Barium x-ray Machine

The barium x-ray machine, as you can see, is a table which can tilt, with an arm coming across which delivers or detects the x-rays. Within the room there will usually be either a radiologist and a radiographer or just a radiographer and sometimes a nurse.

The barium examinations use x-rays to obtain the pictures. In this room many different investigations involving contrast (dye) or barium are performed. Most commonly, they will be the barium enema, looking at the colon, the barium swallow or meal, looking at your oesophagus (gullet) and stomach or the barium follow-through or small bowel meal, looking at the small bowel. The barium is high density and not radioactive, but is detected by the x-rays.

This kind of investigation has been used for many, many years and was started just after the start of diagnostic x-rays at the turn of the last century. Often it provides information about the function of the gut and can demonstrate pathologies which sometimes need other investigations.

Usually the different tests will take between 15 minutes and one hour. Sometimes, with the investigation of the small bowel, this can take much longer.