Digital radiography is rapidly replacing conventional x-ray plates.
Technological developments have made digital radiography a possibility. Digital radiography is rapidly replacing conventional film methods in surgeries and hospitals because of benefits such as reduced costs and radiographic response time, green policies, faster processing time, and better radiation safety measures. Digital radiography displays a radiograph in pixels on a screen instead of using conventional silver halide film. As digital radiography eliminates the developing process of conventional film, doctors can now view the x-rays sooner.
Film Scans
This digital radiography technique has been developed to archive old radiographs electronically. A conventional radiograph, produced on a normal sheet of the industrial x-ray film, is scanned and digitized for viewing and electronic archiving by using specific software.
Digitizing radiographs enables long-term archiving and allows doctors to access the information on remote computers through networks. Disadvantages of this technique are that hazardous chemicals are still used, and recurring film costs remain a factor. Film processing time also still applies.
Computed Radiography
Computed radiography is a technique that replaces conventional x-ray film with an imaging plate in a cassette. Photosensitive phosphors in the plate react when the plate is scanned with a laser beam to capture the latent image. The cassette is placed in a reader to record and translate the data into a digital image on the computer.
Direct Radiography
Direct radiography is a technique in which the image is captured directly on a built-in flat plate and transmitted to the computer. No cassettes are required. This technique provides a direct feed from the panel to the imaging workstation. Several types of detector systems are in use, such as silicon digital x-ray detector systems, selenium detector systems, and complimentary metal oxide semiconductor technology.
Tags: detector systems, radiography technique, conventional film, conventional x-ray, digital radiography, Digital radiography
