ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF RADIOGRAPHS - ACCOMPANYING BIOPSY SPECIMEN

According to a long-established protocol, biopsy specimens of bony les ions sent to the University of Washington Histopathology Service are a ccompanied by relevant radiographs. In this study, the authors evaluat ed the quality of 114 radiographs, both intraoral and panoramic, from 89 consecutive cases. The radiographs were judged on their clinical us efulness, rather than on criteria for technically ideal images, and on the severity, rather than the number, of errors. Only 33 percent of t he panoramic radiographs were of acceptable quality, while the quality of the intraoral radiographs was markedly better. The most striking f eature was the lack of three-dimensional radiographic coverage of the site of surgical exploration.