[Thoracic diagnosis at the intensive care unit: digital radiography]

Only few reports have been published so far on the clinical use of digital luminescence radiography (DLR). We report on 3.000 x-ray examinations of the thorax in the intensive-care ward performed by us since a suitable system (Philips PCR) had been installed in December 1987. The following advantages must be pointed out in respect of using DLR in thoracic diagnosis in the intensive-care ward: No faulty exposures; the thorax can be x-rayed with the patient recumbent in bed, with lateral take: the image brightness in maintained at a constant level by histogram selection; electronic image processing and storage. Hence, DLR entails considerable improvement in x-ray diagnosis of intensive-care patients.