DARKROOM-a room devoid of all white COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

light on which processing cycle of the • Light-proof speaking grill

exposed x-ray film may take place installed in the door
– a light-proof laboratory used for loading • Intercom system
and unloading cassettes and feeding film ENTRANCE
into the automatic processor 1. SINGLE DOOR - most commonly used
Location: entrance.
• Passbox and Film bin are located near 2.DOUBLE INTERCLOCKING DOORS
the working bench – 2 doors w/ small vestibule in between
• Power and water supply accessibility – an electrical lock can be fitted
• Near to viewing or reading room 3.• LABYRINTH (MAZE)
SIZE : • Entire passage and walls are painted
• Should be small enough so the black
radiographer does not have to move • Length of passage is 3 meters
more than 1-2 steps to perform operation • Height of passage is 2 meters
RADIATION PROTECTION: • Each passage width is 700 mm
• Ensure no radiation leakage from the • Emergency door
exposure room 4.REVOLVING DOOR
• Door-lead ply sheet (1/16 mm thick) • Metallic cylinder with opening at
FLOOR one end for entry and exit
• Non-porous DARK ROOM LIGHTING
• Non-slip 1. Overhead White Light - the switch is
• Durable and easy to maintain installed higher on the wall than usual for
• Requires drain both inside the darkroom the light switch
and near automatic processor outside the - equipment repair
darkroom - darkroom cleaning
WALLS / CEILING 2.Safelight - the switch is installed on
• Light colored to reflect the light the wall lower than the regular light
and keeps the intensity to a switch height.
minimum - loading and unloading cassettes
PLUMBING - during processing
• Hot and cold water for mixing chemistry Latensification-exposed film is 10x more
and cleaning the processor sensitive to light of all wavelengths.
• ELECTRICAL Post Exposure Fog (PEF)- the effect on
• 220 volts to operate processor, exposed x-ray film of an exposure to
VENTILATION safelight.
• Relative humidity Safelight Filters Used
– 40 to 60%, 10 air changes/hr Wratten 6B (Kodak) Amber filter (orange
,Room temperature is 18-200C brown), transmit light with wavelengths
LOADING BENCH longer than 550 mm.
• Must be located directly under - recommended for blue sensitive film.
each pass box Wratten 1A
• Grounded by connecting a ✓ GBX – 2 (Kodak) and GS1- Red filter,
wire to a well-grounded object transmits only light above about 600 nm
• Must be far enough from wet - recommended for both blue and green
tanks to prevent solutions sensitive film (orthochromatic)
from splashing on the film
• BULBS WATTAGE AND Darkroom Thermometer
RECOMMENDED DISTANCE - An indispensable processing-room
A. 7.5 Watts - 3 ft accessory, a tank thermometer that is
distance from the film. plainly marked with both C and F scales,
B. 15-Watt - should be and has a steel clip that forms a hook to
no closer than 4 ft distance from the film hang the thermometer in the tank (or a
tray or work surface. floating type).
2 SECTION OF DARK ROOM Luminous Timer (interval timer)
Dry Section – enables to handle film, designed for the measurement and easy
unload and reload cassettes, and reading of time intervals during
store in the room. procedures performed in a darkroom.
Wet Section – used only for processing of Film Hangers –instrument or device for
the film, this is a wet, messy, holding x-ray film during processing.
area at the best - Can be stored either under or over the
PASSBOX loading bench.
A light-proof container set in the darkroom
wall. Most have two sides, one labeled
“exposed," the other “unexposed”
BASIC COMPONENTS OF DARK ROOM
Chemistry
Mixing Tank – contains 2 parts:
1. Master tank – serves as water jacket to
hold the insert tanks and is usually
large enough to provide space between
insert tanks for rinsing and washing of
films.
2. Insert Tanks – removable containers
for the individual processing solutions
(developer and fixer), and are spaced in
the master tank.
Mixing Paddles – for manual agitation of
processing chemicals. Each tank has own
dedicated paddle
Film Duplicator – allows taking existing
x-ray film and make a simple copy
using a simple special x-ray film.
Film Flasher – used to identify
radiology film exposing a small
corner of x-ray film to patient ID
information.
Film Bin – a light-proof cabinet and
designed for film storage of different
sizes.
FILM BASE Silver Bromide Emulsion (silver
• Composed of a polyester w/c iodobromide) - the most common in
measures 150 – 300 um radiography because it is most sensitive to
• Provides support for the the color of light emitted by the IS. made-
emulsion up of
• Strong, flexible, transparent, • silver Bromide (90 – 99%)
and is usually tinted to reduce • Silver iodide (1-10%)
viewer eyestrain Film Grain – refers to the clumping of the
DIMENSIONAL STABILITY silver halide crystals
Property of the base to maintain its size • Film Speed is determined by:
and shape during processing so that it 1. Amount of different dyes added to the
does not contribute to image distortion emulsion
MATERIAL USED AS FILM BASE 2. Sensitivity of the silver halide crystals
GLASS PLATE Tabular Grain(T-grain)
• The original radiographic film base • Recent innovation incorporated into
• The radiologist used to refer as x-ray manufacturing film
plates • uses flat silver halide crystals that can be
• During World War, high quality glass dispersed more evenly in the emulsion
became unavailable while medical than conventional crystals (randomly
applications of x-rays were increasing shaped)
rapidly particularly by the military • Advantages:
CELLULOSE NITRATE 1. Absorption of a greater proportion of the
Became the standard base exposing photons
• Disadvantage is it is flammable, the 2. Reduced light crossover from one
improper handling and storage of x-ray emulsion to the other
films resulted hospital fires during the 3. Reduced silver coating requirements.
1920’s and early 1930’s ADHESIVE LAYER
CELLULOSE TRI-ACETATE Also known as Substratum Layer
Mid 1920’s • Allows the emulsion and base to
• Has properties similar to cellulose nitrate maintain proper contact and integrity
but it is not flammable during use and processing
CROSSTALK OR CROSSOVER OVERCOA(Aka supercoat,
Exposure from light photons generated in topcoat, protective coating)
the opposite screen. • The outer layer made up a hard
Can be controlled by making the base transparent gelatin that protects the film
thinner and by adding special dyes to the from damage during storage and handling
base which absorbs portion of the GENERAL TYPES OF FILM:
unwanted light photons 1.DIRECT EXPOSURE FILM
EMULSION • Often called non-screen film
Made up of silver halide crystals • Intended to be used in cardboard holder
uniformly distributed in a clear gelatin and without IS
• Gelatin – extracted from collagen, a • Requires more exposure (about 10-100
protein obtained from the flat bones of times more radiation)
cows • Considerably outdated technology
Silver Halide Crystals – the common • Commonly used for dental radiography
recording medium in photography. Only
proprietary information given by the film
manufacturer
2.SCREEN FILM DUPLICATING FILM
• The most widely used radiographic film A single emulsion film that is exposed
• Intended to be used with 1 or 2 IS to UV light or blue light through the
• More sensitive to light and less sensitive existing radiograph to produce a copy
to x-rays than direct-exposure film Cineflourography or roll film
• Can either manually or automatically • A special examination reserved
processed exclusively for the cardiac catheterization
• Can either have a single or double laboratory.
emulsion coating Cine Film – a movie film used for
TYPE OF SCREEN FILM angiographic and cardiology examinations
1.DOUBLE EMULSION where moving of the heart is imaged
• Sometimes referred to as DUPLITIZED - Takens at 30-60 frames/sec
FILM - Comes in 2 widths, 16mm and 35
• Has an emulsion coating on both sides mm(commonly used), in 300-foot rolls
of the base of the layer of supercoat over Spot Films – similar in
each coating composition to cine film but
2.SINGLE EMULSION are larger (105 mm), hence
• It has only one emulsion layer intended no need to use projector to
to be used with a single IS view the film
• Used for duplication, subtraction, CT • Commonly used for GI
scan, MRI, sonography, nucmed, studies where the structures
mammogram, and laser printing. move slowly (10 frames/sec)
Anti curl/anti halation layer Orthochromatic – responsive to all colors
Halation refers to an image being except red
recorded on the film by reflected • Panchromatic – responsive to all colors
light that exposes the emulsion • Ortho G film – sensitive to both blue
• Differentiates single emulsion film and green light spectrum but more so to
from double-emulsion film green than blue
• A colored backing on singleemulsion film - sensitive to the light emitted from
that prevents film from curling and a Wratten 6B safelight
prevents halation (special light absorbing Blue Sensitive Film – most sensitive to
dye) light in the blue and blue-violet range
• The shiny side • Green Sensitive Film – sensitive to light
• Dull side is the emulsion side in the violet, blue-green ranges
Terbium-doped Gadolinium Oxysulfide • Rare-earth Screen (named after the
green emitting IS used in mammography elements in Lanthanide series) emit light
Laser Printer Film in these ranges
Provide exceptionally consistent image • UV sensitive Film - sensitive to light in
quality for multiple film sizes and multiple the ultraviolet & blue ranges. Certain rare
image formats per film screens emit light in these ranges.
• use in digital imaging Film Speed – the degree to which the
modalities, such as emulsion is sensitive to x-rays or light. The
MRI, CT scan, and CR greater the speed of a film the more
• Laser Film – a silver halide sensitive it is
film sensitized to the red light Spectral sensitivity
emitted by the laser • Refers to the color sensitivity of the film
• LASER - Light Amplification by to the color emission of the IS
Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
Spectral emission • The use of rubber gloves should be
• Refers to the color of light produced by a avoided, since they tend to produce static
particular IS electricity
Spectral matching • Use cotton gloves when handling film
• Refers to correctly matching the
sensitivity of the film to the color emission
of the IS Film storage and handling
Artifact – a mark w/c is foreign or
unwanted to the x-ray image and is not
necessarily imposed on the film by the
action of x-rays
• Radiographic Films are packed in a
photo-inert Polytheline bag or in metal foil
to protect from light and moisture
• In case of high humidity, films may stick
together
Radiographic Films are sensitive to Heat:
• Unexposed and unprocessed film should
always be kept in a cool dry place.
• Heat causes a low level exposure fog
• Temperature: 10C – 21C (50 – 70F) and
a relative humidity of 40% to 60%
Expiration date:
• Indicates the maximum shelf life of the
film
• Film should be used before the
expiration date since film aging causes a
loss in speed and contrast and increases
fog.
• FIFO system – first in/first out
• The oldest film is used first and the
newest last
• Maximum storage time for radiographic
film is 30 days.
• Supply schedule is every 5th week
Tree static
Caused by very rapid motions such as
removing a film from interleaving paper
Crown static
Most often the result of the rapid
withdrawing of a film from a tight or new
box
Smudge static
Handling:
• Films should be held as near the edges
as possible
• Hands should be clean and dry, and
hand cream should be avoided