Vet360 Vol 4 Issue 4 August 2017 Vet 360 | Page 26

DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING
5
Article reprinted with the permission of DVM360 - May09,
2017 DVM360 MAGAZINE is a copyrighted publication of
Advanstar.Communications inc. All rights reserved.
Imaging Gems
for Veterinarians :
How Digital Radiography Can
Make Your Practice Sparkle
May 09, 2017
By Anthony Pease, DVM, MS, DACVR
Worried that DR will become
obsolete as soon as you make
the purchase? Don’t worry—just
like fine diamonds, this technolo-
gy holds value for years to come.
Diagnostic imaging technology has become positively
dazzling in the past 10 years, but many practitioners
are worried about buying a digital unit that will lose its
luster in a year—just like their latest smartphone.
Fear not. Although digital imaging may seem new, it’s
been available in human medicine for more than 25
years if you’re looking at computed radiography (CR),
15 if you’re looking at digital radiography (DR, some-
times called DX).
Here are five sparkling ideas to consider if you’re won-
dering how digital imaging will work for you.
1
Most CR and DR units can work with your ex-
isting x-ray table. Although you can upgrade your ta-
ble when you switch to CR or DR, newer DR plates do
vet360
Issue 04 | AUGUST 2017 | 26
not need to integrate with your x-ray tube, and CR
systems work just like a standard radiographic plate
and do not require any upgrade to your existing
unit.
2
You can take three views instead of two. As
a radiologist, I still have veterinarians send me single
lateral or two-view radiographs of the thorax and
abdomen looking for abnormalities. Although this is
usually enough to make a diagnosis, by taking the
opposite lateral you increase the chance of seeing
lesions by 33 percent. (Get it? You’re getting anoth-
er radiograph, so now you have three chances to
see lesions rather than just two).
Also, things are hidden on the down side that you
can’t usually see until you flip the patient over to
allow gas in the region to provide radiographic