Description

Plain radiography-radiologic imaging with X-rays, is useful to diagnose many disease entities. SMC has a busy surgical & medical clinic and the Radiology Department images approximately 70,000 patients a year.
It is possible to do plain radiography with most of our X-Ray equipment. We have around nine X-Ray rooms where we can do plain radiography. Plain radiography such as all extremities, joints (Hands, knee, wrist, Legs & etc.), chest, abdomen, spine and skull can be performed in all of the following X-Ray rooms -Room No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,12, A/E rooms 1 and 2, and room 11.

It is also possible to do most plain radiographies with the mobile X-Ray units but you are limited with some examinations and sometimes the quality of the image is not the same as what you can get in the general X-Ray rooms.

Plain radiographies in SMC are done in rooms 1 & 2 in the old SMC building. The service is provided for all out patients and in patients from Sunday to Thursday and the service hours are from 7am to 9pm. In addition, private patients are x-rayed in the same systems from 4.30pm to 7.30pm.

The are two plain radiography units in the new building, one is the skull unit room 11 and the 2nd is for plain radiography- room No. 12.

Therefore, in total, there are six plain radiography systems in the SMC. Both rooms No. 1 and No. 5, can be used for plain radiography as well as IVU procedures. These consist of twin X-Ray tables separated by a sliding door partition.

Room No. 1 is used mostly for plain radiography such as chest X-Ray, extremities, joints, abdomen and spines.

Room No. 2 is Digital Radiography (D.R.), where there is no more cassette use . Room No. 3 however is mostly used for special procedure as in room No. 4,also plain Radiography can be proceeded.

Room No. 2 is used mostly for plain radiography. Both units are manufactured by Siemens (Sireskops-fluorospot). Room No. 5 unit, manufactured by Philips (Optimus with Bucky Diagnost), is mostly used for Intervenous Urography (IVU) but is capable of serving all the demands of plain radiography.

Procedure Examples

Chest:

To demonstrate pulmonary pathology and cardiac outline. (All views at 150 cm FFD).
Postero-anterior (PA): patient erect in PA position, the upper border of the film adjusted so that the apices of the chest will be included on the film. The backs of the hands are placed on the hips , shoulders and arms are rotated as far forward as possible without raising the shoulders. (This is to project the scapulae away from the lung fields.) Center to the fifth thoracic vertebra. The film must be taken in inspiration. 

Forearm:

Antero-posterior (AP): patient seated with the forearm resting on the X-Ray film, and the elbow in the true AP position, the back of the hand flat on the table. Center to the middle of the film, to include both the elbow and wrist joints.
Lateral: elbow and wrist in the true lateral position with the upper and lower arm resting on the table. Center to the middle of the X-Ray film.

Preperation

Generally, no preparation is required except some examinations such as skull X-Ray, when the patient is asked to remove hairpins, jewelry, eyeglasses, hearing aids and any removable dental work that could obscure the images.

Precautions

*Lead Apron should be given to the relative accompanied the patient during any Radiography Examination. Also protection to the gonads in both male and female is indicated.

Usually we do not accept any pregnant women for plain radiography except if the doctor specifically requests it and the examination is strongly indicated. In such cases, the radiographer covers the patient with a lead apron around pelvis and abdomen.

Location and Contact

There are four rooms located at the Radiology Department - SMC Old and New Buildings - Ground Floor.

Tel. No.: 17285538 / 17285775 / 17284084

Ext. No. : 5538 / 5775 / 4084
Weekends: bleep No. 4084

Equipment

Room No.1 is DR manufactured by Agfa (DX-D 500). .

Rooms No. 2 is DR manufactured by Philips ( Optimus 80/Bucky Diagnost).

Room No. 3 contain digital Fluoroscopy systems manufactured by Philips.
Room No. 5 contains Optimus with bucky Diagnost manufactured by Phillips .
Room No. 11 contains Orbix manufactured by Siemens.
Room No. 6 B contains Medio 30CP - COSMOS manufactured by Phillips .

All the plain radiographs are now done in DR or Computed Radiography units

SMC operation theater (OT) has one Computer Radiography (CR) unit it is manufactured by Agfa. CR can be very useful for plain radiography examinations. SMC currently has 5 CR units and all of them are manufactured by Agfa.

Available Staff

Regular hours: 4 Radiographers

Weekends: 4 Radiographers, 1 Clerk, 1 MSA

2nd Shift: 6 Radiographers (4 of the 6 cover the plain radiography work)

Night Duty: 4 Radiographers, 1 MSA, (mainly work in A&E but also cover any urgent requests for in-patients plain radiography)

Timing

Inpatients: 24 hours (urgent cases), Routine cases: After 2pm

Outpatients: Sundays to Thursdays from 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM