How To Read X Rays
Left right erect ap pa supine prone.
How to read x rays. Comminuted identify the type of fracture. The air in your lungs shows up as black. Spiral oblique transverse wedge. The blue arrows are pointing to the healthy enamel. Examples will follow for each fracture pattern.
Above all else make sure you are looking at the correct chest x ray first. The silhouette of the heart should be identified and the heart borders should be clear. Nine pairs of ribs should be seen posteriorly in order to consider a chest x ray adequate in terms of inspiration. How to read x rays dental x rays enable us to see inside a tooth. This is an x ray of the back teeth on the upper arch.
Fat and muscle appear as shades of gray. As a general rule the heart base should not be wider than 1 2 the total width of the diaphragm. For some types of x ray tests a contrast medium such as iodine or barium is introduced into your body to provide greater detail on the images. Reading plain x ray images of the skeleton is a basic radiology skill. This quick guide shows you some of what we see and what we are looking for.
Systematic reading of x rays identify type of fracture simple. With x rays you can only see the hard tissues such as the teeth and bone but you cannot see the. Dense materials such as bone and metal show up as white on x rays. Butterfly segment complex. When you are preparing to read an x ray make sure you have all the information on the patient including age and sex and their medical history.
The green arrows are pointing to the bone. If the heart base is 1 2 the width of the diaphragm on the chest x ray it refers to cardiomegaly or pericardial effusion. X rays of the two adjacent joints must be taken. The red arrows are pointing to the pulp where the nerve and blood vessels are located for a tooth. Step 1 check the patient s name.