What is cleft lip and palate? What is glue ear? Patient stories Tests and procedures Consent

 

X-rays are very helpful, but you can't see them in the air, and you have to take care not to be exposed to to much x-radiation, which can be harmful in large quantities.

 

You can't feel x-rays while they are being used, and they won't hurt you or in any way. Modern x-ray machines use very small doses of x-rays which are quite safe for the patients being examined - even so, while you are in the machine you will hear clicking when the x-rays are turned off when not wanted and on again when the patient and the speech therapist are ready

 

X-rays are a part of the electromagnetic spectrum which also includes light, ultraviolet, infrared and radio waves. They have a long wavelength compared to light and are able to pass through human tissue.

 

After they pass through the patient they are collected on a sensor which in the old days was film, but is now a computer imaging sensor. They have the effect of producing a "shadowgram", the denser bits - like the bones - showing up as lighter than the less dense soft tissues, such as the soft palate.

 

This is because the x-rays can pass through the soft tissues more easily than they can through the hard tissues, so more are collected on the sensor. To look at an x-ray film or screen is like looking at a black and white photographic negative where the tonal values are reversed and the black bits are white and vice versa.

 

The system used for the cleft palate patients is able to record video x-rays in real time and allows the Speech Therapists and the Surgeons to see exactly how well the palate is working.

 

> Palate Videofluroscopy (moving x-rays)

 

 

Lead apron

Radiographers wear lead aprons for protection if they need to be in the x-ray room. This is because they are exposed to x-rays every day.

 

Anyone who doesn't need to be in the x-ray room itself sits behind a protective screen.

 

The Radiographer's controls are also behind the screen.

 

Pictured left is a radiographer wearing a lead apron with a special design appealing to children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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