[Abreugraphy and the introduction of mass X-ray screening to Norway]. / Abreugrafi og starten på skjermbildefotograferingen i Norge.

The Brazilian radiologist Manoel de Abreu (1892 - 1962) was the first who succeeded in developing an apparatus suitable for mass radiography of the chest in the fight against tuberculosis. Within a few years, many countries had started to use mass radiography. The German professor Hans Holfelder (1891 - 1944) improved the apparatus and made a transportable version to be used in special buses and in assembly halls. When Germany attacked Norway in April 1940, the Chief Tuberculosis Inspector Otto Galtung (1904 - 81), was making plans for a nation-wide screening programme with mass radiography. He was fired by the Nazis who continued his work and started screening in 1943. The first mass radiography in Norway was carried out in Bergen in September 1940. Almost 11 000 pupils and teachers from all schools in Bergen were examined under the management of Holfelder, then an SS-Standartenführer (colonel) and radiologist in the occupation force. The screening was performed in co-operation with the municipal health authority who bought the apparatus in spring 1941.

[Experience in using a mobile digital fluorograph-equipped laboratory].

The authors share their experience in using a KFP-FC-RP digital fluorograph for mass fluorographic studies in a mobile fluorographic laboratory (on the basis of a ZIL-5301 EO automobile with a module body and an APCF-01 (ProScan-2000) fluograph made by ZAO "RENTGENPROM"). Studies were performed at the enterprises of Moscow and the Moscow Region. How the work of the mobile laboratory is organized is described. Since the able-bodied population was chiefly surveyed, the efficiency of the work can be considered rather high. The experience has shown that the use of a mobile fluorographic laboratory for mass examinations at the enterprises by a health care facility is much more effective and profitable than that of a permanent laboratory.

[Prevention in pulmonology]. / Tüdógyógyászati prevenció.

In the fight against respiratory diseases the well established most effective strategy is their prevention. Mainly the field of screening-caring--so called the second and third levels in prevention--belongs to the competency of the pulmonology specialty, while the key-issue of primary prevention consisting of the reduction of environmental harm and health education is not--or at least not only--the responsibility of the health care system. In the light of national epidemiological data BCG vaccination of the new-born is necessary, however, the system of revaccination of school-age children needs revision. The system of chest screening by rtg nowadays is adapted to the local prevalence of tuberculosis; it is needed to concentrate to high-risk subjects. The effectivity of radiological screening now is recognised internationally and this perspective partly based on our national results. In the care of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) the key-issue is the identification and regular follow-up, care of high-risk subjects with rapid decrease in lung function by effective screening. The most important issue in this work is smoking cessation. Of course, if we could prevent smoking addiction, we could significantly reduce the number of several other widespread diseases, not only lung cancer.

[Industrial production of the LDRD "Siberia-N" digital radiographic devices]. / Promyshlennoe proizvodstvo tsifrovykh fliuorograficheskikh apparatov MTsRU "Sibir'-N".

It is envisaged, as a key task, in the Federal Program on Tuberculosis Monitoring, that preventive measures and early TB detection is a priority. Fluorography, which is important for the recognition of pulmonary tuberculosis at its early stages, has been used in the diagnostics of pulmonary pathologies. However, according to the statistics provided by the Russian Ministry of Healthcare, around 80% of available medical equipment is now worn and obsolete. Owing to a fruitful research activity related with designing a digital low-dose X-Ray unit (Siberia-N) carried out by the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk), a certain progress can be stated in perfecting the fluorography equipment in Russia. The above unit incorporates all advanced achievements in the field of digital X-Ray diagnostics.

Development of functional chest imaging with a dynamic flat-panel detector (FPD).

Dynamic FPD permits the acquisition of distortion-free radiographs with a large field of view and high image quality. In the present study, we investigated the feasibility of functional imaging for evaluating the pulmonary sequential blood distribution with an FPD, based on changes in pixel values during cardiac pumping. Dynamic chest radiographs of seven normal subjects were obtained in the expiratory phase by use of an FPD system. We measured the average pixel value in each region of interest that was located manually in the heart and lung areas. Subsequently, inter-frame differences and differences from a minimum-intensity projection image, which was created from one cardiac cycle, were calculated. These difference values were then superimposed on dynamic chest radiographs in the form of a color display, and sequential blood distribution images and a blood distribution map were created. The results were compared to typical data on normal cardiac physiology. The clinical effectiveness of our method was evaluated in a patient who had abnormal pulmonary blood flow. In normal cases, there was a strong correlation between the cardiac cycle and changes in pixel value. Sequential blood distribution images showed a normal pattern at determined by the physiology of pulmonary blood flow, with a symmetric distribution and no blood flow defects throughout the entire lung region. These findings indicated that pulmonary blood flow was reflected on dynamic chest radiographs. In an abnormal case, a defect in blood flow was shown as defective in color in a blood distribution map. The present method has the potential for evaluation of local blood flow as an optional application in general chest radiography.