https://www.vetnurse.co.uk/f/clinical-discussions/30522/npl---vn9-11-please-clarify In the throes of finishing my NPL (hopefully!) and have come across something that has confused me so wondering if anyone can help.. VN9-11 shoulder, craniocaudal - find this an interesting view for shoulder as whenever we have done in practice iten-USTelligent Community 10https://www.vetnurse.co.uk/thread/168950?ContentTypeID=1Fri, 30 Jun 2017 13:23:51 GMT1a0763ec-3885-442c-853e-6cef656dfec5:ad8e9b85-e480-44cd-95fd-ff3dd33b3db2Nick Shackleton <p>Stifle: I&#39;ve spent a lot of my nursing career in referral practice, working with many orthopaedi vets. Routinely. Stifles are images with the patient in sternal recumbency. Leg of interest stretched out backwards. And the cassette positioned under the stifle joint. Usually centring over the stifle but extending the collimation to include the ankle joint.&nbsp;</p> <p>Shoulder: I have always imaged these with the patient in dorsal recumbency. Leg of interest stretched crainally. And the cassette positioned under the shoulder joint.&nbsp;</p> <p></p> <p>Remeber when imaging anything you want the area the area of interest. In both these cases the joint Closest to the image detector. Otherwise you will create the penumbra effect and your images will become magnified. This is particularly important in orthopaedics as a lot of the time measurements are taken from radiographs prior to undertaking surgery.&nbsp;</p><div style="clear:both;"></div>https://www.vetnurse.co.uk/thread/168947?ContentTypeID=1Fri, 30 Jun 2017 03:40:10 GMT1a0763ec-3885-442c-853e-6cef656dfec5:5c5926dc-d381-4f98-8d57-cbaf79c81888Vari Thomson<p>Hi, would say I have never seen a stifle being radiographed in cranial caudal, when they are in sternal, their hind limbs are stretched out behind them so the radiographic beam is hitting the caudal aspect of the leg before the cranial aspect. The limb needs to be as close to the plate as possible so I would think this is best practice and the view that most orthopods would request if looking into cruciate damage etc.</p> <p>the crainocaudal shoulder isn&#39;t a routine view due to the difficulty in positioning but I would still agree with the NPL that it should be done with the animal in sternal and the limb&nbsp;stretched out and tilted over the joint slightly, similar to how elbows should be taken with the beam going through the cranial aspect before the caudal aspect, other wise the joint may be miles from the plate and not achieve a diagnostic image.</p> <p>I hope this helps you a little!</p><div style="clear:both;"></div>