Is the image diagnostic? (10 point plan)
8. Are there any artefacts and are they obscuring the image?
Artefacts may be from a number of sources and the radiographer/technologist should be prepared to discuss any artefacts on the radiograph.
- Patient and equipment
- Dense collections of hair
- Clothing, buttons / zips
- Metal objects in pockets or around the neck and piercings
- Skin folds
- Oxygen reservoir, mask and tubing
- Operative metalwork
- Teeth knocked out by intubation
- Detectors and Image processing
- Noise from under exposure
- ‘Burn out’ from overexposure
- Detector the wrong way round. (The tube side of the detector is clearly marked and must be facing the X-ray tube)
- Grid lines from radiographic grids
ECG lines and any equipment should be moved to the edges of the patient so as not to obscure the lungs.