X-ray

:In the NATO phonetic alphabet, X-ray represents the letter X.

Medical uses

Since Röntgen's discovery that X-rays can identify bony structures, X-rays have been developed for their use in medical imaging. Radiology is a specialised field of medicine that employs radiography and other techniques for diagnostic imaging. Indeed, this is probably the most common use of X-ray technology.

Related Topics:
Medical imaging - Radiology - Medicine - Radiography - Diagnostic imaging

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The use of X-rays are especially useful in the detection of pathology of the skeletal system, but are also useful for detecting some disease processes in soft tissue. Some notable examples are the very common chest X-ray, which can be used to identify lung diseases such as pneumonia, lung cancer or pulmonary edema, and the abdominal X-ray, which can detect ileus (blockage of the intestine), free air (from visceral perforations) and free fluid (in ascites). In some cases, the use of X-rays is debatable, such as gallstones (which are rarely radiopaque) or kidney stones (which are often visible, but not always). Also, Traditional plain X-rays pose very little use in the imaging of soft tissues such as the brain or muscle. Imaging alternatives for soft tissues are computed axial tomography (CAT or CT scanning), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or ultrasound.

Related Topics:
Skeletal system - Soft tissue - Pneumonia - Lung cancer - Pulmonary edema - Ileus - Intestine - Ascites - Gallstone - Radiopaque - Kidney stone - Brain - Muscle - Computed axial tomography - Magnetic resonance imaging - Ultrasound

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X-rays are also used in "real-time" procedures such as angiography or contrast studies of the hollow organs (e.g. barium enema of the small or large intestine) using fluoroscopy. Angioplasty, medical interventions of the arterial system, rely heavily on X-ray-sensitive contrast to identify potentially treatable lesions.

Related Topics:
Angiography - Barium enema - Fluoroscopy - Angioplasty

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Radiotherapy, a curative medical intervention, now used almost exclusively for cancer, employs higher energies of radiation.

Related Topics:
Radiotherapy - Cancer

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