Sunday, January 18, 2009

Radiology

As a veterinary technician one of my duties is to radiograph sick or injured pets. Since owners cannot be present due to the radiation I thought you might like a look to see what is happening to you pet. First we take two measurements of your pet with the metal calipers shown above. The spot we measure depends on the area we need to x-ray. We try to measure the widest part. From those measurements we use a chart called a technique chart to give us the settings we need to use on the x-ray machine.





We select the appropriate size film cassette to use, like the one show above. Our office has three sizes small medium and large. The part where the orange sticker is has a small piece of lead that blocks the x-rays. We will later use that spot to identify whose x-ray it is.





Next we use the numbers from the technique chart that we obtained from measuring the animal. We set the dials to appropriate numbers. They control the strength and the amount of time of the x-ray exposure.





Next your pet is placed on the x-ray table. The film cassette can be placed in the metal drawer under neath the table or placed on top of the table. However where we put the cassette effects the numbers we use on the machine settings also. Your pet will usually have two views taken of the specific area. One view the animal is placed on it's side, called a lateral view. the next view the animal is usually placed on it's back, called a vd or ventral-dorsal view. Occasionally we use other positions and may take more than two views, but that is not very common.









After the x-ray is taken it is brought into a dark room where the film cassette is opened and the film is stamped using a light box; like the one shown above with the animal and hospital information. This stamp is placed in the corner where the lead blocked the x-rays.







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