#MOTION BACKGROUNDS LIGHT AND ENERGY SERIES#

X-ray scans can diagnose possibly life-threatening conditions such as blocked blood vessels, bone cancer, and infections. When used appropriately, the diagnostic benefits of x-ray scans significantly outweigh the risks. Learn more about radiation treatment for cancer therapy here. Therapeutic radiation can come from a machine outside of the body or from a radioactive material that is placed in the body, inside or near tumor cells, or injected into the blood stream. The radiation dose used for treating cancer is much higher than the radiation dose used for diagnostic imaging. Radiation therapy in cancer treatment: X-rays and other types of high-energy radiation can be used to destroy cancerous tumors and cells by damaging their DNA. This technology is also used with a radiographic contrast agent to guide an internally threaded catheter during cardiac angioplasty, which is a minimally invasive procedure for opening clogged arteries that supply blood to the heart. For example, fluoroscopy is used to view the movement of the beating heart, and, with the aid of radiographic contrast agents, to view blood flow to the heart muscle as well as through blood vessels and organs. Learn more about CT here.įluoroscopy: Uses x-rays and a fluorescent screen to obtain real-time images of movement within the body or to view diagnostic processes, such as following the path of an injected or swallowed contrast agent. CT images are more detailed than plain radiographs and give doctors the ability to view structures within the body from many different angles.

#MOTION BACKGROUNDS LIGHT AND ENERGY SERIES#

Learn more about mammography here.Ĭomputed tomography (CT): Combines traditional x-ray technology with computer processing to generate a series of cross-sectional images of the body that can later be combined to form a three-dimensional x-ray image. While usually benign, specific patterns of microcalcifications could indicate the presence of cancer. Mammograms can also detect tiny bits of calcium, called microcalcifications, which show up as very bright specks on a mammogram.

Tumors tend to appear as regular or irregular-shaped masses that are somewhat brighter than the background on the radiograph (i.e., whiter on a black background or blacker on a white background). Mammography: A radiograph of the breast that is used for cancer detection and diagnosis. X-ray radiography: Detects bone fractures, certain tumors and other abnormal masses, pneumonia, some types of injuries, calcifications, foreign objects, or dental problems.

Listed below are examples of examinations and procedures that use x-ray technology to either diagnose or treat disease: Diagnostic These structures are displayed in shades of gray on a radiograph. Conversely, x-rays travel more easily through less radiologically dense tissues, such as fat, muscle, and air-filled cavities such as the lungs. As a result, bony structures appear whiter than other tissues against the black background of a radiograph. Because of this property, bones readily absorb x-rays and therefore produce high contrast on the x-ray detector. For example, our bones contain calcium, which has a higher atomic number than most other tissues. Radiological density is determined by both the density and the atomic number (the number of protons in an atom’s nucleus) of the material being imaged. When the machine is turned on, x-rays travel through the body and are absorbed in different amounts by different tissues, depending on the radiological density of the tissues they pass through. To create a radiograph, a patient is positioned so that the part of the body being imaged is located between an x-ray source and an x-ray detector.

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