["Intensive lungs"--possibilities for quality improvement]

X-ray lung diagnosis in an intensive-care unit makes special demands on technique, imaging and on the physician's experience. The quality of image interpretation and evaluation is considerably improved by superimposing the technical data on the x-ray image and by using an antiscatter grid cassette. Proper evaluation of the parameters important for diagnosis is improved by registration of the data on the x-ray film; taking a maximum possible score of 100 as reference value, quality of evaluation is improved from 66.5 points to 71.8 points by data registration on the film itself, whereas the simultaneous use of an antiscatter grid cassette improves the score still further, namely, to 84.3 points. The importance of the clinical condition of the patient, and of the type of breathing chosen, for assessing the chest x-ray, is emphasised.