Digital Radiography: What It Is and How It Helps Us When Evaluating Your Pet?

Our veterinary team at Cliffdale Animal Hospital is fully dedicated to providing you with the best that veterinary medicine has to offer. Having advanced techniques and the most up-to-date technology allows us to do our job better. For that reason, we are proud to provide in-house Digital radiography (DR) technology to pet owners in Fayetteville, NC. 

What is Digital Radiography?

Think about how much easier it would be to keep our pets healthy if they could speak. That way, they could just come to us, explain what was troubling them, and show us where it was hurting them. Then we would know exactly what to look for and how to deal with the situation. Unfortunately, our animal companions do not communicate in this manner, so detecting the signs of a health problem and addressing that problem most efficiently and effectively can sometimes be challenging.

This is where digital radiology comes in. This X-ray technology enables the knowledgeable staff at Cliffdale Animal Hospital to look inside your pet’s body to determine what is going on beneath the surface. This results in a faster and more accurate diagnosis, and as a result, a better outcome for your pet.

For many decades, veterinarians have used X-ray technology to examine an animal’s body in a non-invasive manner. Digital radiography is essentially an advanced form of x-ray inspection that provides a digital radiographic image on a high-resolution monitor instantly.

The conventional radiographic cassette and film are replaced by a flat panel detector that serves as the digital imaging sensor in digital radiography. The detector—which is connected to a computer—converts X-ray beams into electrical pulses, which are subsequently converted into an image that can be viewed immediately after exposure. The flat panel detector can be mounted to an X-ray table or wired to a digital radiography computer.

This makes radiographing more efficient and, as a result, less unpleasant for our patients, allowing us to examine your pet’s cardiovascular, digestive, reproductive, musculoskeletal, and urinary systems with ease—whether you have a tiny Siamese or a large Bull Mastiff. 

Related Blog: Everything You Need to on How to Protect Your Pet’s Heart - The Barking Blog 

What are the Benefits of Digital Radiographs?

Digital radiographs have only recently entered clinical use, yet they are generally preferred to traditional X-ray imaging for a variety of reasons, including:

1. Fast and Accurate Diagnosis

It takes a long time to get the images ready with conventional x-rays. This is because you have to wait for the film to develop in a darkroom before you can see the images. Digital radiography, on the other hand, produces images that are instantly ready for viewing.

This advantage is enormous in veterinary medicine. It enables our knowledgeable, well-trained, and professional staff at Cliffdale Animal Hospital to reposition the pet and retake the image without ever moving them off the table. It also shortens consultations because we can quickly evaluate your pet’s health situation and provide a diagnosis.

2. Reduced Exposure to Radiation 

While traditional X-ray imaging is generally safe for use in pets, digital radiographs expose your pet to even less radiation—high levels of which can cause lasting cellular DNA damage, potentially leading to cancer, among other concerns. 

Because digital radiography systems provide a wider viewing area and greater exposure latitude, the number of retakes required to produce an image is significantly reduced. In addition, fewer retakes equal less radiation exposure for pets and our staff.

Furthermore, digital sensors use less radiation per exposure to generate high-quality radiographs. Pet owners in Fayetteville, understandably, appreciate the lower radiation exposures for their animal companions.

3. Excellent Image Quality

Clarity and detail in X-ray imaging are critical for making an accurate diagnosis and providing the proper treatment. However, it can be incredibly challenging to obtain a clear read from traditional film radiography due to difficulties deriving from its technique-dependent nature. Furthermore, with film-based systems, zooming in or adjusting the brightness of the image is impossible.

We can use digital radiography to reduce the amount of poor-quality radiographs caused by exposure errors and produce crisper, more detailed images. The fact that digital radiography systems have unique image processing algorithms that can be used to tweak images for enhanced definition also contributes to exceptional image quality—for a better view, images can be zoomed or panned, and the contrast or brightness can be adjusted as well.  

4. Ease of Sharing

There is no need to keep carrying around envelopes containing x-ray films. Digital radiographic imaging results are easy to share with all relevant team members, including your pet’s primary vet, orthopedic specialists, and others.

Why Does My Pet Require a Digital X-Ray?

Cliffdale Animal Hospital recommends digital radiography for your cat or dog for several reasons, including:

• To evaluate your pet’s dental health and to examine the teeth and jawbones.
• To check for bone fracture (broken bones), joint dislocations, and other injuries caused by blunt or high-force trauma, such as a car accident.
• To look for the presence of an ingested foreign body.
• To determine the presence or absence of certain health conditions, such as bone tumors.

Our staff at Cliffdale Animal Hospital will most likely sedate or, if necessary, anesthetize your pet during a digital X-ray scan. This is done to ensure that your pet stays still and comfortable throughout the process so that the images taken are as clear as they can be.

Call Your Veterinarian Serving Fayetteville, NC, Today!

Trust Cliffdale Animal Hospital for all of your four-legged friend’s diagnostic work—whether it is simple testing for routine wellness or part of a more in-depth diagnosis. Whatever is troubling your cat or dog, rest assured that we will get to the bottom of it and get your furry friend back on the road to good health again. 

If you would like to learn more about our animal hospital in Fayetteville, NC, as well as the veterinary care services we offer, then call (910) 487-5013 or contact us online.