This page takes a nostalgic look at plain film radiographic techniques that are becoming increasingly uncommon or have become completely extinct.

Tomography refers to a radiographic technique in which a section of the patient is imaged in focus. The patient's anatomy that is within the field of view and that lies outside the focal trough will appear blurred. This technique requires tomographic equipment (or a tomographic attachment). One of my favourites was the Philips Polytome. This was as close as you get to a plain film machine that was fun to use. It is not feasible to provide examples of all of the possible uses for plain film tomography- suffice to say that there were numerous applications. What is the plain film tomography examination that is still commonplace?

This was the most challenging tomographic technique that I performed during the 1980's using the Polytome. There were 2 significant challenges. The first was to position the patient's head such that the same anatomy was imaged on both sides at the same time. Unlike CT imaging, you couldn't make corrections post-acquisition. The second was to ensure that the patient did not move until the series was completed. I rarely achieved both objectives perfectly! CT is the current gold standard for IAM imaging

This is a coronal cut facial bone tomogram. CT is the current gold standard

The air encephalogram was performed using a special patient positioning chair which could move in all planes to position the patient in any position. This was a procedure that would frighten any student radiographer!

Optic foramen radiography was something that was practised by the older and wiser radiographers when I was a student. I would genuflect to radiographers who would volunteer to do optic foramen radiography without blinking.

This image combines two appearances that are less commonly seen. The plain film image of a full term pregnancy is something that is rarely seen (and for good reasons). Plain film imaging of a pregnancy for foetal maturity made most radiographers uncomfortable. If for no other reason, you never wanted to repeat a foetal maturity examination. The IVP is also becoming an uncommon examination in many centres, supplanted by CT Urogram and Ultrasound imaging.