[Leica] Newest Kodak emulsions - Free Film

[hlritter at bex.net (HOWARD L RITTER)]

Not long ago I had to take my son to an ER (in Canada) after he hurt  
his leg in a fall. X-rays were taken and I had the nerve to follow  
the radiology tech back to where she took the 14 x 17-inch cassette  
for processing. I asked her how soon the film would be developed  
while she was dropping the cassette into a receptacle. As a  
physician, I knew that radiologic film processors are fast, and I  
expected to be looking at a warm, vinegary-smelling sheet of film in  
90 seconds or so. She replied, "They're ready now" as she pointed at  
a screen, and there indeed was the evidence of Daniel's ugly tibial  
fracture. I was astonished and mystified, but she breezily said, "Oh,  
it's all digital."

What I haven't yet remembered to go down to Radiology to ask is: What  
is the method of detection? It clearly is not digital recording of an  
image at the instant of exposure from a fluorescent screen, say,  
focused by a lens on a CCD chip, and of course it's not a 14 x 17- 
inch CCD! I saw the cassette itself, and something full-sized  
registers the X-ray image in the cassette, then retains it long  
enough for it to be processed somehow into a digital file. How? Does  
a sensitive screen retain an image that is somehow recalled in the  
processor and then focused onto a CCD? Anyone know?

Have to drop by Radiology Monday...and hope we're as advanced as Canada!



On Oct 20, 2006, at 9:27 PM, Alastair Firkin wrote:

> Films were read in Adelaide initially and now in Sydney and India  
> as well. Strange world indeed. With even standard monitors, I think  
> digital is now better than looking at film: you just have to be  
> prepared to look at 1:1 images and scroll: great for us 50's guys  
> who would otherwise have to wear glasses: just mag it up and sit  
> further away from the screen ;-)
>
> On 20/10/2006, at 9:14, Philip Leeson wrote:
>
>> Here, in Iowa, we see Kodak processing and GE pacs systems.
>> I still kind of like the bigger image of film Chest X rays, though.
>> The monitors I've seen have about half the viewing area of the  
>> oldies, though, I'm sure this will improve.
>> I wonder how many folks realize that a lot of their nighttime ER X- 
>> rays have a preliminary reading from the other side of the planet  
>> where it's daytime?
>> Now, that's digital at it's best.
>> Phil