Examination
The patient is asked to drink a suspension of barium sulfate. Fluoroscopy images are taken as the barium is swallowed. This is typically at a rate of 2 or 3 frames per second. The patient is asked to swallow the barium a number of times, whilst standing in different positions, i.e. AP, oblique and lateral, to assess the 3D structure as best as possible. This technique induces gas production in the esophagus, and can be uncomfortable to the subject.
Read more about this topic: Barium Swallow
Famous quotes containing the word examination:
“A clergyman, again, can hardly ever allow himself to look facts fairly in the face. It is his profession to support one side; it is impossible, therefore, for him to make an unbiased examination of the other.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“If we justify war, it is because all peoples always justify the traits of which they find themselves possessed, not because war will bear an objective examination of its merits.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“Maybe it’s understandable what a history of failures America’s foreign policy has been. We are, after all, a country full of people who came to America to get away from foreigners. Any prolonged examination of the U.S. government reveals foreign policy to be America’s miniature schnauzer—a noisy but small and useless part of the national household.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)