A simple head-holder for radiography.

Abstract

It is sometimes necessary to immobilize for radiography the head of an unconscious or uncooperative patient. It is unsatisfactory to have it held by personnel, whose hands, with or without lead gloves, would appear on the radiographs, interfering with diagnostic information. Furthermore, it may be difficult to obtain a true lateral skull view of patients who are unable to cooperate. One of us (M. W.) has devised a wooden head-holder shaped like a box, open at the top and one end, which is quite helpful. It was made for us in the hospital's carpenter shop, with glue instead of nails so that it cannot be seen on the radiographs. We are able to obtain satisfactory anteroposterior and lateral views of the skull without moving the patient to the x-ray table, by use of a grid-cassette. The lateral view is achieved by placing the cassette at the side of the box and employing a horizontal x-ray beam. Wedges of slightly compressible radiolucent material (polyurethene foam plastic) are placed on each side of the head to immobilize it in the holder. It is not necessary to use adhesive straps, sandbags, or other opaque or otherwise inconvenient materials for immobilization. To the undersurface of the box are glued 4 rubber pads to prevent its slipping. The box and wedges are shown in Figure 1. The inside dimensions of the box are: 8 × 8 × 8 in In Figure 2, a lateral view is obtained without moving. the patient. We find the head-holder also very useful when performing cerebral angiography, particularly when it is biplane. Any desired angulation of the patient's head can be brought about simply by placing beneath it a foam-plastic block of the appropriate angle in or under the box.