Who can forget the smell of fixer or the silver recovery systems of old?

Warm congratulations to our friends and colleagues at RAD Magazine on celebrating their 50th birthday issue. I can remember well when the first edition hit the x-ray department staff room.

Since the launch, medical imaging has changed dramatically, far beyond the concepts of what anyone could have imagined at the time. And just as smart mobile phone technology has revolutionised how we communicate, so too has the emergence of digital imaging technology transformed ‘the x-ray department’ while at the same time providing for regional and national connectivity.

A few of us will remember with fondness those bygone days when the darkroom was a hive of activity and central to all that happened in the x-ray department, and when all permanent images, and for that matter reporting, was dependent on film/screen technology and film processing chemistry.

Back then there was the gradual but necessary progression from manual processing, with those famous drying cabinets, to the first automatic dryers and then the emergence of automatic processing, which was the first step in revolutionising film processing and the eventual demise of the darkroom. I can still remember the unforgettable smell of fixer and how it stained your uniform if you were not careful in handling it.

Even though these wonderful automatic film processors could eventually process film in 90 seconds, a great deal of care and attention was still necessary to keep rollers, processing tanks and processing chemicals in tiptop condition. And, of course, what department was without a silver recovery system to generate income?

Then everything changed dramatically and radically overnight with the introduction of daylight processing. Different manufacturers had different solutions, but the overall effect was to transform the x-ray department and free up the darkroom technician, many of whom became ‘x-ray helpers’ – the forerunners to the modern image support worker.

While image acquisition using modern film/screen technology progressed steadily with the introduction of more efficient and high image quality systems, the focus was on radiation dose reduction, with x-ray manufacturers offering a range of general x-ray and fluoroscopic systems that provided welcome features to reduce patient and staff dose.

All of this, of course, changed radically with the introduction of digital imaging: first with CR technology, which was like conventional cassettes, and PACS to enable transmission of images around the hospital. Selling this to some orthopaedic surgeons doing their ward rounds was not an easy task: they simply wanted the familiar x-ray film to hold up to the light.

The medical imaging department has changed considerably over the last 50 years. It is no longer confined to conventional and fluoroscopic x-ray equipment with a limited number of x-ray procedures but to a situation offering a vast array of sophisticated medical imaging equipment including ultrasound, CT, nuclear medicine, PETCT, MR, DXA and vascular imaging equipment, to name a few, which expands the diagnostic horizons and facilitates a range of interventional procedures that benefit the patient.

Happy 50th birthday RAD Magazine – may you be blessed with many more.

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