DIGITAL VERSUS CONVENTIONAL RADIOGRAPHY C OMPARED IN CASES OF THORACIC DISEASE IN DOGS

Up to now digital luminescens radiography has not been used widely in veterinary medicine. This paper gives an overview of the first experie nces with the application of the digital ADC-System (Agfa Diagnostic C enter) for imaging pulmonary nodules and other lung diseases in dogs i n comparison to the conventional method. For this, we used radiographs of dogs of several weight groups with lung diseases. To compare both systems (conventional and digital) we took pictures with either method in the same positioning. Compared to the analog film screen system, t he phosphor storage radiographs enhance the detection of fine details. Additionally, the digital technology gives an opportunity for post-pr ocessing of image data in order to optimize the discrimination of vari ous image details and offers a wide latitude for exposure, which means less retakes and a wider range for dose selection. The advantage of d igital filing stations is on the one hand the possibility of space sav ing and storage unlimited by time, on the other hand it offers the pos sibility to recover X ray pictures in very short time.