The blob, the line and the shadow.

The Problem

Radiologic technology has journeyed from the discovery of x-rays in 1895 to present-day digital imaging in filmless departments. This particular film was taken at a time somewhere between these technologies as it was developed using a darkroom process. During the "Dark Age" of darkrooms, film bins and handling errors prevailed; some days, everything went wrong.

This posteroanterior chest radiograph was taken using darkroom manual processing and an automated exposure control. The left upper quadrant of the film has some "blob-like" effects with smearing of a substance. The lower portion of the film has horizontal shading from a film fog effect. In addition, there are dark vertical lines in the middle and the right side of the film and roller marks in various areas.

What events led to this disaster? The key elements include the processor and the unknown artifacts.

The Solution

The radiographer used appropriate technical factors in making the exposure, but the problems arose during the processing phase. Apparently, the radiographer skipped breakfast at home that morning and decided to bring her breakfast to work. Specifically, she ate her yogurt in the darkroom.

After the film was taken, the radiographer started to run the film through the 2-minute processor, during which time she dropped yogurt on the film. Realizing her error, she tried to wipe the yogurt off the film. This wiping motion caused a smearing effect and at the same time delayed the processing of the developing agents, resulting in chemical fog on the lower portion of the film. Because the radiographer tugged at the film while she attempted to wipe her breakfast from it, she caused undue pressure on the film against the roller system, resulting in the roller marks.

Apparently, skipping breakfast is just fine some days.

Thanks to Riverchase Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala, for submitting this Technical Query.

Technical Query is a troubleshooting column that covers image acquisition and processing. This issue's column is edited by Krys Geissler, M.Ed., R.T.(R)(M). Ms. Geissler is a former radiography instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.