Radiology Machines

 Types of X-ray Machines

• Practically all X-ray equipment used in veterinary radiography was designed and constructed for human use and suffers from various disadvantages when used for veterinary purposes.
• While there is a very wide variety of machines of different size, power and manufacture, they may be divided into three main groups.
  
  
  
  
  

Portable-X-ray Apparatus.

• Commonly used in veterinary practice because of convenient transportation. The maximum output usually varies from 70-110 kv and 15-35 mA.
• In such machines the transformers are of small size and low weight and are located within the tube head immediately adjacent to the X-ray tube.
• The tube head itself is supported on a tube stand which may comprise either a small table top model or a considerably more substantial floor stand mounted on wheels.
• The apparatus also has a small control panel which is attached to the tube stand or the tube head or supported on a separate stand.

Advantages

• Relatively cheap and require little maintenance.
• They cost less than other types of machine.
• They are strongly constructed and need little maintenance.
• They can be operated from any 12 – or 15-A electrical point.
• They can be easily transported for use on farms or other premises.
• They are light and easily maneuvered and therefore suitable for radiographing the legs of restless horses.

Disadvantages

• Because of low electrical output, these machines are of limited value in radiographic examination.

Range of use

• Large animals. Such machines are particularly suitable for radiography of the feet of horses but of limited use for any examinations above the corpus or tarsus. Small animals.
• Portable apparatus should be satisfactory for the radiographic examination of the entire skeletal system of the dog and cat (with the possible exception of the vertebral column of particularly large dogs).
• There are, however, limitations on the usefulness of these smaller machines for radiography of the abdomen and chest in these species.
  

 Dental X-ray Apparatus

• Apparatus manufactured for dental use is sometimes advocated for veterinary use because of its low price.
• Such machines are of low output (in the region of 10 m A and 70 k V) and are designed to only cover a small area of the patient.
• The precise use which could be made of such machines would depend in part on the skill of the operator, but they are likely to be restricted to the examination of cats and the smallest dogs.

Mobile X-ray Apparatus

 

• These machines have higher output than portable machines by virtue of their larger transformers and are mounted on wheels with output of 90-125kv and 40 to 300mA. Most machines are movable on smooth surface within the radiology section.
• In machines of this type the transformers are larger to permit higher output and because of their increased weight are no longer located in the tube head but are mounted on wheels and form the best of the apparatus.
• These sets cannot be taken apart and the tube stand and control panel are built into the apparatus .
• These machines can be moved over level surfaces and, in most instances, operated from 13-15 A sockets.