A COMPUTERISED radiography system that can provide sharp, digital X-ray images is set to make the process safer for patients in the cancer care unit at the Prince of Wales Hospital. The senior radiographer at the hospital, Paul Chan Po-luk, said at the launch of the new system yesterday that the amount of radiation patients would be exposed to would be reduced by 25 per cent. The $4.8 million machine will not be fully operational until next month. Instead of using conventional X-ray film, sensitive imaging plates are stored inside a cassette and transferred between the X-ray machine and the imaging equipment. Seven different processing parameters can change the focus and contrast of the image, which can be adjusted to look at bone or soft tissue. The quality is so much better that in an image of the chest, the spine, usually blocked by the organs in a normal X-ray, can be seen. Hospital chief executive Alison Reid said the quality of the new X-rays meant that the need for a number of X-ray pictures would be reduced. 'The major benefit to patients is that they have one X-ray which can be either enhanced or modified to meet the needs of the person reading it without requiring additional X-rays,' she said.