Accident and emergency and general practitioner plain radiograph reporting by radiographers and radiologists: a quasi-randomized controlled trial.

Two specially trained radiographers at York District Hospital have been reporting appendicular plain radiograph X-ray examinations for Accident and Emergency (A&E) patients since February 1995. This study explores the potential for further expanding their reporting role. This was achieved by assessing the two radiographers' and a group of consultant radiologists' ability to report on a retrospectively selected random stratified sample of 400 A&E and General Practitioner (GP) plain radiograph X-ray examinations for all body areas. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses there was no statistically significant difference at the 5% level between the area under the ROC curves for the radiographers and consultant radiologists when reporting A&E or GP plain radiographs. It may be feasible to expand the reporting role of suitably trained radiographers to include plain radiograph X-ray examinations for all A&E patients and for GP patients, with no detriment to the quality of reports.

Direct measurement of dose at depth in breast cancer using lithium fluoride.

In 23 cases of breast cancer treated conservatively using external beam and interstitial radiotherapy, lithium fluoride thermoluminescent dosimetry has been used to measure the radiation dose received by the breast tissue at depth. Thirty-six investigations were made using a number of lithium fluoride micro-rods for each investigation. Three results could not be analysed because of measurement problems in two and insufficient information in one. Twenty-eight results were obtained at a depth in tissue greater than the build-up zone, 23 of the 28 falling within +/- 5% and 27 of the 28 falling within +/- 10% of the computer-calculated prescribed dose. Of five results obtained within the build-up zone, two fell within +/- 5% and four within +/- 10% of the prescribed dose.