How do you get a standing x-ray of someone who can’t stand? Well, the answer used to be a lot more complicated than it is now.
For a long time, staff would maneuver the patient as best they could. They supported the patient 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 getting it right. It was time-consuming and uncomfortable for the patient.
Now, there’s something new. It’s a table that tilts upright, taking the patient from a flat-on-their-back position to a vertical one without them moving a muscle.
Here’s how it works: Staff transports a patient via bed or stretcher. Next they transfer the patient to this special standing table. The patient is strapped in at the knees, waist, and chest (all straps not shown in the video). The table tilts upward until the patient is “standing.” The x-ray technologist can now take pictures that are more accurate, cause little patient discomfort, and don’t expose staff to unnecessary radiation!
Chair in seated position
Anthony Calise, Chief X-Ray Technologist, told 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.”
Chair prepped for vertical position
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,” Calise said.
The team has partnered with Sonesta Medical to test the radiolucent standing table at UVA and has also received great ideas from several UVA Biomedical Engineering students to further refine the table.
Thank heavens! I’ve been complaining about upright films to clear spines, and asking for one of these for 20 years! Now to find an easily disinfectable knee and chest strap…
Is this really different from the tiltable flouroscopy table we have been using?
Without knowing what kind of fluoroscopy table you are referring to, it is difficult to say. Perhaps they are quite similar. We are glad to hear that you have a good option for imaging patients with mobility issues!
Best,
UVA Radiology Marketing Team
This is beautiful, atleast for us radiographers in Nigeria, it will go a long way in accurate patient positioning, reduction of radiation exposure to staff and public ,and many other benefits. Kudos.
Well, this is impressive. Through this number of patients who are suffering from disabilities will get relax and able to get relief from their pain while standing of X-ray.
A video detailing an entire exam, including AP and Lat imaging of the entire spine would be helpful. Additionally, pictures showing the table from all angles. From the pictures shown it looks like the pistons in the back would obscure anatomy during AP imaging, and the platform the bed rests on in an upright position would be too far from Imaging equipment to get patient close enough for imaging without large object to image distance.
What a relief! The nursing staff keeps talking about a standing X-ray for my elderly mother who has a broken right hip and a broken left leg, a broken arm and three fractured vertebrae. I thought they were crazy and was upset about at the prospect of the pain she would have to endure. This tool helps it make sense.
Where can we purchase one?
Hi Mitch,
UVA Radiology and Medical Imaging developed this standing x-ray table in partnership with Sonesta Medical. You can learn more about it here:
https://www.sonestamedical.se/sonesta-sst/
All best,
UVA Radiology Webmaster
Can a handicap person unable to use left leg anytime n walks with full length metal knee brace on left leg cs polio!Right knee is knee standing X-ray cause of unable to straighten right knee due arithis n degeneration of pads n area from lifetime right leg taking all her weight.
As a patient and overweight an X-ray table that stands up straight of in sitting position is a necessity. A table that slowly has the patient moves the vortices xray table to horizontal prevents more pain to the patient. Plus the X-ray technician who needs help getting up won’t need that help anymore. The technician can buzz the auto table into the verticals position so the patient can simply step off or away from the table without struggling to get off the table. Please make it affordable for all doctors and hospitals.