General radiography

Last revised by Andrew Murphy on 23 Mar 2023

General radiography, also known as plain film radiography, is the specialty within medical imaging that utilizes projectional radiography to examine anatomy. It is often referred to as simply ‘x-ray’ within medical imaging departments. Due to the differences in pediatric projectional radiography and adult projectional radiography, the sections are clearly separated. Although the principles remain similar - practices vary significantly between the two.

Quality control

Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis is the gold standard that ensures a radiograph is of optimal quality to detect the underlying known pathology. However, the "ground truth" of the pathology needs to be known before the ROC assessment can be carried out. Therefore, visual grading characteristics (VGC) analysis, which is less time-consuming and requires less laborious setup can be used. VGC analysis operates based on the assumption that the ability to detect a pathology is closely correlated with the clarity of the important anatomy on a radiograph 1.

See also

ADVERTISEMENT: Supporters see fewer/no ads

Updating… Please wait.

 Unable to process the form. Check for errors and try again.

 Thank you for updating your details.