[The amorphous selenium based flat-panel detector. Clinical experiences]

The possibility of acquiring digital radiographic images has been marked with a rapid development. The main advantages of such images are, above all, the electronic dispersal of images, the economical archiving and the computer supported post processing. The recently introduced large-area flat panel detectors offer, contrary to storage-phosphor-based computed radiography, a direct read-out modality. It must be emphasized that differences between direct and indirect detector technology exist,which we will discuss here. The working and advantages of the amorphous selenium based direct-conversion detectors will be examined in detail. Clinical cases will be presented based on a three-year experience with over 200,000 exposures with a detector chest unit.