Application of the New-designed Foot Supports in the Radiography of Foot in Traumatic Subjects

The study investigated the usage of the new designed foot supports assisted to take the radiography of foot in cooperative and uncooperative subjects with traumatic history. 149 subjects for AP and medial oblique projections of foot were enrolled in this study. The subjects were divided into four groups: (1) 50 cooperative subjects (37.32±16.73 years old) with conventional procedure; (2) 33 cooperative subjects with foot supports (34.67±8.34 years old); (3) 50 uncooperative subjects with Supports (42.48±19.08 years old) and (4) 16 uncooperative subjects with modified procedure (50.06±22.3 years old). The convenience of operation and the imaging quality of radiography were rated as a five-point scale. Our results showed that the convenience of operation with foot supports was superior to that with modified procedure in uncooperative subjects (4.88±0.39 vs. 3.06±1.24, P ＞ 0.001). No statistically significant difference was found in the convenience of operation either between cooperative subjects with conventional procedure and with foot supports (5 vs. 4.89±0.3, P=0.40) or between cooperative subjects with conventional procedure and uncooperative subjects with foot supports (5 vs. 4.67±0.53, P=0.06). The imaging quality with foot supports was superior to that with modified procedure in uncooperative groups (4.67±0.53 vs. 4.03±0.67, P ＞ 0.001). No significant difference was found in the imaging quality between with conventional procedure and with foot supports in cooperative groups (4.86±0.34 vs. 4.89±0.30, P=0.70). In conclusion, the foot supports could improve the convenience of operation and imaging quality of the radiography of foot in uncooperative subjects