R / F Experiences with Slot Radiography Using SONIALVISION safire 17 ! Applications to Limb Lengthening Surgery of the Lower Limbs !

This hospital was established in September 1971, and is currently a university hospital comprising two basement levels and 19 aboveground floors (Fig. 1). With its attached critical care center and general perinatal medical center as well as its 23 medical departments offering 1154 beds, it contributes to regional health services and functions as an advanced treatment hospital. The hospital handles an average of 1800 to 1900 outpatients and the Department of Radiology performs an average of 600 to 800 radiographic examinations each day. Approximately 65 % of these are performed by the general radiography department. Due to the focus of the orthopedics department on bone treatment, the general radiography department frequently performs bone radiography, in particular long view radiography, on some 20 to 30 cases per day. In May 2009, the hospital relocated based on the concept of hospital IT and began totally filmless operation. We then faced the problem of how to digitize the conventional long view radiography film images. This hospital previously performed two types of long view radiography: normal overview radiography and a method known as slit scanograms. Slit scanograms are taken on a long film by collimating the X-rays with an approximately 2 mm slit. The images are taken using a long exposure time while moving the subject in the craniocaudal direction. This method results in low operation efficiency and a high exposure dose to the technologist and patient alike. To exploit the introduction of digitization to overcome these problems, we switched to slot radiography using a Shimadzu SONIALVISION safire17 Digital R/F System. This paper reports on our experiences using slot radiography with the Shimadzu SONIALVISION safire17, in particular for limb lengthening surgery on the lower limbs, and on the clinical utility of this radiography. Fig. 1 Teikyo University Hospital