Case study
This case study is going to describe the details of a chest examination undertaken on a 36 year old man who was involved in a road traffic collision (RTC) from the emergency department.
The request card for the examination had the following clinical details: 'Cyclist involved in RTC, query pneumothorax'.
Pneumothorax is a condition whereby the pleural cavity holds an accumulation of air resulting in the collapse of the lungs due to the pressure exerted on the lungs by the air collection (Crowley and Crowley, 2014). The pleural cavity lies between the pulmonary pleura of the lungs and the costal pleura of the chest wall. The severity of the collapse is directly proportional to the quantity of air present in the pleural cavity of …show more content…
The patient's examination was started on the control panel computer with PA chest examination and wall stand selected. The DR central ray (CR) was horizontal and perpendicular to the wall stand detector with a focus film distance (FFD) of 180cm (Sloane et al, 2010). An FFD of 180 cm is recommended as it reduces the magnification of the heart, and reduces the radiation dose to the patient (Campeau and Fleitz, 2010). A focused grid is inserted into the moving grid mechanism of the wall stand and the automatic exposure chambers (AEC). The moving secondary grid absorbs maximum scattered radiation which negatively affects the radiograph quality but transmit the primary radiation to maximise the image quality (Willis-Owen et al., 2010). The left and right AEC are selected automatically to monitor the level of radiation transmitted through the left and right lungs. The AEC automatically calculates the given level of radiation that is needed to produce diagnostic density on a radiograph to demonstrate the lung lobes to ensure when that threshold is reached, the exposure is terminated regardless of the exposure factors selected (Carlton and Adler,
This case study is going to describe the details of a chest examination undertaken on a 36 year old man who was involved in a road traffic collision (RTC) from the emergency department.
The request card for the examination had the following clinical details: 'Cyclist involved in RTC, query pneumothorax'.
Pneumothorax is a condition whereby the pleural cavity holds an accumulation of air resulting in the collapse of the lungs due to the pressure exerted on the lungs by the air collection (Crowley and Crowley, 2014). The pleural cavity lies between the pulmonary pleura of the lungs and the costal pleura of the chest wall. The severity of the collapse is directly proportional to the quantity of air present in the pleural cavity of …show more content…
The patient's examination was started on the control panel computer with PA chest examination and wall stand selected. The DR central ray (CR) was horizontal and perpendicular to the wall stand detector with a focus film distance (FFD) of 180cm (Sloane et al, 2010). An FFD of 180 cm is recommended as it reduces the magnification of the heart, and reduces the radiation dose to the patient (Campeau and Fleitz, 2010). A focused grid is inserted into the moving grid mechanism of the wall stand and the automatic exposure chambers (AEC). The moving secondary grid absorbs maximum scattered radiation which negatively affects the radiograph quality but transmit the primary radiation to maximise the image quality (Willis-Owen et al., 2010). The left and right AEC are selected automatically to monitor the level of radiation transmitted through the left and right lungs. The AEC automatically calculates the given level of radiation that is needed to produce diagnostic density on a radiograph to demonstrate the lung lobes to ensure when that threshold is reached, the exposure is terminated regardless of the exposure factors selected (Carlton and Adler,