BY BRENDA TILKE A team of radiologists and technologists at the Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, TX, have developed a method for upgrading a conventional radiography table into a flat-panel digital x-ray detector. In a scientific presentation at the RSNA meeting on Monday, the team described its year-long experience with the converted table. The project represents the first commercial upgrade of a conventional table and the first and possibly only flat-panel digital x-ray conversion being used for routine musculoskeletal imaging. The team has performed nearly 2000 examinations with the system. Researchers compared the direct digital radiography system to the medical center's current analog-to-digital computed radiography system.

When 60,000 hungry RSNA attendees take a break for lunch, lines like these are not uncommon throughout the McCormick Place complex.

Testing included evaluation of phantom images, throughput analysis, and clinical exams. The technology removes the processing step inherent to screen-film and computed radiography.

Retrofitting a standard RF table, the team replaced the bucky grid with the direct digital detector. The detector was permanently fitted onto the table and could be adjusted to three different image sizes for extremity images or placed beneath the table for abdominal and spine films.

Generally, the conversion improved performance with the upgraded system. However, the image acquisition time did not improve with the converted table, primarily because technologists were not as familiar with the newer system. The team believes that as technologists become more comfortable with the converted table, image acquisition will become faster. A larger study is under way to evaluate throughput.