Paul Keough

It’s been argued that repeat/reject analysis, a quality-assurance tool to observe trends and make improvements that help reduce the need for repeat images, is not necessary when using digital equipment. While it is true that digital imaging reduces some error rates, the results on the Mayo Clinic digital poster exhibit at the RSNA meeting showed that mistakes still occur in the digital environment.

The artifacts observed in images derived from computed radiography come from a range of sources and user errors. A radiography team from Manipal, India, presented a digital exhibit at the RSNA meeting to illustrate sources of such artifacts and user solutions to overcome them.

A maneuverable digital radiography system has been selected over a computed radiography system by the emergency room at a U.K. facility. Steven McDonald, director of radiology in the emergency room at Royal Liverpool Hospital gave the rationale and implications for this decision in a poster presentation at RSNA 2009.

Optimization strategies described in an RSNA poster presentation from Switzerland were found to reduce total dose exposure by 63%.

Launched in 2008, the imaging center at the Glastonbury outdoor rock event in the U.K. is on the verge of becoming an institution. The center was reopened at the 2009 festival, this time with a portable digital radiography machine. A poster at the RSNA meeting reported good results, along with plans to expand in 2010.