Radiographic Viewing Conditions

Abstract

The preparation of a radiograph with adequate contrast and resolution does not in itself assure the transfer of the infor-mation necessary for a medical diagnosis. The last physically describable event in the complex chain of events, which constitute the radiological examination, is that of the viewing of the finished radiographs by the radiologist. If the viewing condi tions are substandard, there is a possibility of losing the diagnostic information at this late stage in the examination. Although radiographic viewing conditions are critical to the entire examination process, they have not been subject to extensive human factors engineering studies. In this paper we will describe radiographic film viewing at our institution, and we will discuss some of the problems inherent in such a task,© (1974) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.