Old X-rays: Higher radiation, took longer

MAASTRICHT, Netherlands, March 16 (UPI) -- Not only do today's X-ray machines produce much smaller doses of radiation, they are a lot faster, a Dutch researcher found.

Lead author Gerrit J. Kemerink of Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands came across an early X-ray machine from 1896. Kemerink and colleagues repeated some of the first imaging, using a hand specimen from a body that had been donated to science.

The researchers compared the radiation dose, X-ray beam properties and electrical characteristics of the 1896 system with those from a modern X-ray machine. Using the same exposure conditions used in 1896, the estimated skin dose needed to produce an image of the hand was nearly 1,500 times greater with the first-generation system than with the modern system. The exposure times were 90 minutes for the old system and 21 milliseconds for the modern system.

"Many operators of the early X-ray systems experienced severe damage to hands over time, often necessitating amputations or other surgery," Kemerink said in a statement.

The study is published online ahead of print in the May issue of Radiology.