Vital Role of Government
Hospitals in Bahrain’s
Healthcare System

Procedure

Most special procedures require patient preparation before the examination. Hence they must be given an appointment prior to the examination.

In Most Fluoroscopy or special procedure examinations, the patient lies on an X-Ray table during his/her examination.

Now used by many radiologists routinely as it is particularly useful to demonstrate the mucosal pattern of the stomach and duodenal cap more clearly and thus detect small lesions at an early stage. It may be carried out with or without the injection of a muscle relaxant to produce gastric atony.

Technique: in the erect position under screen control a small mouthful of barium is given followed by a gas producing agent with a further small amount of barium. The patient is then placed supine and is rotated through 360° to coat the gastric mucosa. Films are taken in various positions.

In this, a dye is injected intravenously and x-ray images of the kidneys, ureters and bladder are obtained. The dye is radio-opaque and seen well with x-rays. Overnight fasting and good preparation of the colon with Dulcolax tablets are required to be taken by the patient two days before the appointment.

Dye is introduced into the urinary bladder through a catheter and the patient is asked to micturate/urinate. X-ray images are obtained during the act of micturition to assess the function and structure of the urinary bladder and urethra.

Dye is injected through the urethra from the penis and x-ray images are taken. This helps in assessing the urethra and the bladder base.

In these studies, using a small catheter, iodinated dye is injected into the cutaneous sinus or fistula and x-rays are taken, which help in identifying the tract of the sinus or fistula.

In this, the parotid or submandibular duct is cannulated from the mouth and x-ray images of the parotid or submandibular ducts and gland are obtained.

The cervix is cannulated and iodinated dye is injected into the cervical and uterine lumen. The Fallopian tubes are then well seen. This procedure is used to study the patency of the passage as well as other structural abnormalities.

Apart from the routine studies mentioned above, other special procedures can be carried out in the department such as:

1. 1. Myelogram (only if strongly indicated).
2. 2. Postoperative (T-Tube) cholangiography.
3. 3. Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC).
4. 4. Dacrocystogram. 5. Venogram.
5. 5. Fluoroscopy for any part of body (e.g. for diaphragmatic movement).