Additional imaging techniques to compensate for blind spots

Abstract

In gastric X-ray screening, a deformed stomach such as a steer-horn stomach or cascade stomach often leads to blind spots around the cardia and in the prepyloric region. Images in the right lateral position usually show the area around the cardia, but in the case of stomachs with the aforementioned shapes the antrum often overlaps the area around the cardia, creating a blind spot. An additional imaging technique that is useful in such instances is “imaging in the right lateral position from the prone position.” This technique involves imaging while pressing the area from the epigastric region to the abdomen onto the table, forcing the antrum downward and enabling observation of the area that was previously a blind spot. Additional imaging in the “right anterior oblique position while in a half-standing forward bend” is useful at depicting the prepyloric region. Imaging with this technique allows observation of the pylorus lengthwise without the prepyloric region overlapping the duodenum.