| Although X-rays have been in existence since the | | | | capabilities. |
| early 1900s, digital radiography has only been around | | | | MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, originated in the |
| since 1970. However, since that time, digital radiography | | | | 1950s. Early research on the method was conducted |
| has been implemented into more and more large and | | | | in the 1970s and finally it was cleared for use on |
| small hospitals, imaging centers and medical facilities an | | | | humans in 1984. |
| in many areas of specialization. Popular imaging | | | | In the 1990s, a shift in digital radiography was made. |
| systems in use today include the CR and DR systems. | | | | X-ray images, it was discovered, could be stored on |
| CR, or computed radiography, uses an imaging | | | | phosphor screens, and this formed the basis of |
| cassette of phosphor to create digital images, and DR | | | | today's CR imaging systems. |
| systems, or direct digital radiography, uses a collection | | | | Complementary PACS systems had their debut in |
| plate for image capture. DR systems are currently in | | | | 1982, although the idea was conceived over twenty |
| use as urgent care DR, veterinary DR, chiropractic DR | | | | years earlier. When the Internet became a worldwide |
| and podiatry DR units. These two systems, along with | | | | actuality in the mid-1980s, it also had a major impact on |
| related hardware and software units such as the | | | | digital radiography. Today's digital medical images that |
| DICOM digital format, PACS and RIS, have brought | | | | are saved in the DICOM imaging format, similar to the |
| many medical facilities up to the modern age with | | | | common JPEG format, can be stored on a server for |
| state-of-the-art digital radiography capabilities. | | | | archival purposes, can be viewed on a personal |
| Much of the early medical digital radiography inventions | | | | computer outfitted with PACS software and a |
| and applications occurred at around the same time as | | | | diagnostic monitor that turns it into a clinical workstation, |
| personal computers became more affordable and | | | | and can be sent and received via the World Wide |
| thus more commonplace. The first digital imaging | | | | Web. |
| application was the invention of the CT, or computed | | | | In the last decade, as the price of personal computers |
| tomography scanner, in 1967, and which became a | | | | and other electronic devices has dropped significantly, |
| prototype in 1971. Its inventors, Godfrey Hounsfield and | | | | and so too has the cost effectiveness of digital |
| Allan McLeod Cormack, won the Nobel Prize in | | | | medical imaging increased, making digital radiography |
| Medicine for their invention in 1979. Television | | | | an affordable and modern alternative from its humble |
| technology also paralleled medical technological | | | | beginnings in film-based X-ray systems. |
| innovation with the switch from analog to digital | | | | |