How do you get a standing x-ray of someone who can’t stand? Thanks to this standing x-ray table at UVA Radiology and Medical Imaging, the answer is a lot simpler than it used to be.
Welcome to the Future: Standing X-Ray Table
For a long time, staff would maneuver the patient as best they could. They supported them while standing (which isn’t ideal because it exposed the staff to unnecessary radiation), or they slid boards under their backs, taking the picture from behind. Most of the time, they had to try a couple of times before they got it right. It was time-consuming and uncomfortable for the patient.
Now, there’s something new. It’s a standing x-ray table that tilts upright, taking the patient from a flat-on-their-back position to a vertical one without them moving a muscle.
The table is made of radiolucent material, meaning x-rays can see through it. In addition to taking patients from their back to a standing position, it can also easily take them to a sitting position. “It’s been a long time coming, and we hope to keep making progress,” Anthony Calise, Chief X-ray Technologist, said.
Calise spoke about one patient with a pelvic fracture. He had been through surgery and couldn’t bear weight on one leg. Without the standing table, getting him into an upright position would have been difficult. “Prior, we would have had him sit up in bed and you would just get what you could get,” said Calise. “Now you can sit them in the chair and get their spine vertical without bending them at the waist.”
Special thanks to Chief Technologist Bob Hunsberger for demonstrating how we use the table. For more information about x-rays, check out these articles. Learn more about innovative imaging technology by clicking here.