Fig. 1

Some early gonad shields with the year they were described in the literature. Testes capsules are seen on the photographs from 1923 [45], 1952 [46] and 1958a (at the right bottom of the image) [47]. A PMMA T-shaped board with 2-mm lead (shaded) for testes shielding is shown on the 1957 drawing [48]. Flexible contact-type shields for females are seen on the 1958a [47] and 1963 [55] images. The devices on the photos from 1958b [52] and 1961 [53] are of the projection type, the first to be positioned somewhere above the patient and the latter was fixed to the X-ray diaphragm