The Barium Radiologist
Hello. I'm Dr K. I'm a consultant radiologist. That's a fully trained medical doctor who specialises in the many ways of imaging the body.When in the barium room (which you might also hear called the screening, fluoro, or fluoroscopy room) it's my job to do your study and decide when we've seen enough to answer the question for which you were referred to us. Those questions are obviously different for each person and so the tests we do and what we are trying to show vary. The commonest tests done in this room are "dye" tests of the body. A material which shows up well on x-rays (barium is a good example) is used to outline the bit we're interested in. So, for example, if you drink the barium (barium meal) we can see the gullet, stomach and small intestine. If the barium is run into your bottom (barium enema), we can show the large intestine. Other types of dye can be used to show the bladder. We can show just about any body cavity, and sometimes we even introduce the dye directly through the skin into the less reachable bits by needle. But don't worry, you doctor should discuss anything like this before he refers you. In any event, I'm going to talk to you about exactly what I'm going to do when we meet. Barium studies of the gut often require some form of preparation. You will be asked not to eat before a barium meal, whereas before an enema you'll be asked to take a strong laxative to clear out the large bowel, so stay near a loo!
There will be other people in the room as we do your test. I need a radiographer to help operate the equipment, there may be a nurse or x-ray helper, and there may be trainees, after-all, we all have got to learn, and the only way to learn many things in medicine is with real people.
Usually patients have to change into a gown for the study. One of us will call you into the room. I'll introduce myself and tell you what your doctors have asked us to do and explain how we will do the test. You can then ask any questions. As every test and every patient is different, it's hard to give you much more information at this stage but I'll tell you what to do as we go along. You'll probably have to roll from side-to-side, and the tilting table will go up-and-down. I'll warn you before it does.
I'll take a number of x-ray "stills" as I go. At the end of your test, I might have an idea of the result, and I'll tell you what I can. Often it's only when I sit down and analyse your images that I can properly decide what they showed and write a report for your doctors. They'll have the result when you next visit for your follow-up appointment in out-patients and will discuss that with you.
And that's it. You're free to go.