Digital radiology

The topic of this presentation is digital radiology or digital radiography. Over 70% of a typical radiology department's workload is comprised of the classic "plain film" and fluoroscopy. Digital fluoroscopy allows direct digital capture of fluoroscopic examinations. A typical installation incorporates a digital image intensifier with presentation of the images on a computer workstation or monitor located directly in the fluoroscopy room. Computed radiography (CR) is a technology developed in the early 1980s which will accommodate direct digital acquisition of about two-thirds of the film-based radiography that is practised in most radiology departments. It has a comparable spatial resolution to high-speed film screen systems and a much improved contrast resolution compared to film. Technologists used to put film up on the view box and review the films there to be sure that the examination was complete and adequate. Now they look at the images on a workstation monitor. They look at the soft copy images, make their decisions, determine what needs to repeated, if anything, and then send the examination on to the radiologist. All of this is capable of being accomplished electronically in a networked picture archiving and communications system (PACS).