Ultrahigh speed imaging assembly for orthopedic radiography

A radiographic imaging assembly having a system speed of at least 400 and comprising:

• A) a symmetric radiographic silver halide film having a film speed of at least 800 and comprising a support that has first and second major surfaces and that is capable of transmitting X-radiation,
• said radiographic silver halide film having disposed on said first major support surface, two or more hydrophilic colloid layers including first and second silver halide emulsion layers, and having on said second major support surface, two or more hydrophilic colloid layers including third and fourth silver halide emulsion layers, said first and third silver halide emulsion layers being the outermost emulsion layers on their respective sides of said support,
• each of said first, second, third, and fourth silver halide emulsion layers comprising tabular silver halide grains that have the same composition, independently an aspect ratio of from about 40 to about 50, an average grain diameter of at least 4.0 μm, and an average thickness of from about 0.09 to about 0.11 μm, and comprise at least 98 mol % bromide and up to 0.5 mol % iodide, both based on total silver in said grains,
• each of said second and fourth silver halide emulsion layers comprising a particulate oxonol dye as a crossover control agent present in an amount of from about 1 to about 1.3 mg/m2 that is sufficient to reduce crossover to less than 8% and that is decolorized during development within 45 seconds,
• said film further comprising a protective overcoat on both sides of said support disposed over all of said silver halide emulsion layers,
• wherein said tabular silver halide grains in said first, second, third, and fourth silver halide emulsion layers are dispersed in a hydrophilic polymeric vehicle mixture comprising from about 0.25 to about 1.5% of deionized oxidized gelatin, based on the total dry weight of said polymeric vehicle mixture,
• wherein the dry, unprocessed thickness ratio of said first silver halide emulsion layer to that of said second silver halide emulsion layer is from about 3:1 to about 1:1, and the dry, unprocessed thickness ratio of said third silver halide emulsion layer to that of said fourth silver halide emulsion layer is independently from about 3:1 to about 1:1, and
• wherein the molar ratio of silver in said first silver halide emulsion layer to that of said second silver halide emulsion layer is from about 1.5:1 to about 3:1, and the molar ratio of silver in said third silver halide emulsion layer to that of said fourth silver halide emulsion layer is independently from about 1.5:1 to about 3:1, and
• B) a fluorescent intensifying screen having a screen speed of at least 150 and a screen sharpness measurement (SSM) value that is at least 1.1 times that of reference Curve A of FIG. 4 at a given spatial frequency, and that comprises a terbium activated gadolinium oxysulfide phosphor capable of absorbing X-rays and emitting electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength greater than 300 nm, said phosphor being coated in admixture with a polymeric binder in a phosphor layer onto a flexible polymeric support and having a protective overcoat disposed over said phosphor layer.