Chest x-ray (CXR) examinations are performed daily on most intensive care unit patients. Portable CXR or abdomen examinations often are obtained in patients' hospital beds when they are too sick to transport to the radiology department for an upright posteroanterior and lateral CXR or upright abdomen imaging. Routine and nonroutine indications for portable CXR have been described in the literature.1 Patients with pleural effusions, for example, benefit from having upright images taken because the fluid settles with gravity.
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