What Is Radiology?
Even though some patients think x-rays are risky, patients seeking x-rays should get one if they think it will help them get the diagnosis they need. If you truly need an x-ray to feel better go otherwise you may feel worse as time goes on. Wilhelm Rontgen is credited with discovering x-rays in 1845 and since that discovery x-rays have saved countless lives all over the world (Newman). This particular branch in the health system is very hands on and you must be a people person because this whole job deals with many different types of patients. Radiology is a branch of medicine that deals with radiant energy in the diagnosis and treatment of disease (Mestrovic). This branch of medicine was made to help the patient in need but many people are
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fearing their health and thinking why they even put themselves in this kind of danger. Costhelper Health said, “X-rays are used for diagnosis and treatment in a variety of situations-- from dental surgery to broken bones.” What the patient doesn’t know is that the danger is actually not getting the x-ray because then they will never find out why they feel the way they do. A physician that specializes in radiology is called a Radiologist. Radiation can be categorized into two areas and those are diagnostic and interventional radiology. Diagnostic radiation helps healthcare professionals see structures inside your body and they can do this with many different types of equipment. Interventional radiation helps doctors to guide them through a procedure and treating things such as cancer, blocking of arteries and so many more. When an x-ray is taken the bones show up white while the gases show up black and soft tissues show up in shades of gray. The bones show up white in an x-ray because they absorb most of the radiation while the gases show up black because they let most of the radiation pass through.
There are many different types of radiology and those would include fluoroscopy, radiography and ct scan.
Fluoroscopy is considered the “movie equivalent” of standard x-rays because the radiologist can take snapshots while the patient is moving. This type uses more than the regular amount but it is still small. Mary Masteron once said, “She came up with a whole way of doing fluoroscopy, which is kind of like a live version of X-ray, so that she could see the heart as it worked, not frozen in a picture.” Radiography is the most familiar type of radiation technique and it uses electromagnetic radiation instead of visible light and this type uses the smallest amount of radiation. Electromagnetic radiation is produced when charged particles of sufficient energy hit a material. Computerized Tomography commonly known as a CT scan, during this procedure the patient ties on the table and enters a ring-shaped scanner and this type uses the highest dose of radiation because so many images are taken at once. Radiology itself is non-invasive, guiding and can be used to find unexpected things inside the body. Non-invasive means that this procedure doesn’t go inside the body with a tool instead the rays stay on the outside while taking images of the patient's insides. Guiding means that the doctor can use rays to help them by finding where in the body they need to go to do a procedure. The best thing about an x-ray may be that the doctor can find unexpected things inside the body that may be harming the patient’s health while treating or diagnosing something
else. Some people are afraid to get an x-ray because they think it will be bad for their health but if they truly need an x-ray to figure out what is wrong with them then they should consider it. Tim Newman once said, “Everyone on the planet is exposed to a certain amount of radiation as they go about their daily lives. Radioactive material is found naturally in the air, soil, water, rocks and vegetation. The greatest source of natural radiation for most people is radon.” That quote tells the reader that not all radiation is harmful to the body. Radiation can not be detected by our senses. Radiation is a material that is used worldwide (Mestrovic). X-rays are classified as a carcinogen meaning they are cancer causing. The amount of cancers caused by x-rays is so low that it is only 0.4%. “According to one study, by the age of 75, x-rays will increase the risk of cancer by 0.6-1.8%. In other words, the risks are minimal compared to the benefits of medical imaging” (Newman). Tim Newman also said, “X-rays can cause mutation in our DNA and, therefore, might lead to cancer later in life.” Daniel Grosch said, “Radiobiologist desire to know how rays other than those of the visible spectrum can alter a cell, a tissue, an organism or its progeny.” Each x-ray gives off a different amount of radiation meaning a high or low dose and each has their own side effects. Mayo Clinic says, “The amount of radiation you’re exposed to during an x-ray depends on the tissue or organ being examined.” You can calculate the radiation given to patients and label it as long or short term. If you have received an x-ray there may be an affect on your body later in life but they should be very mild depending on the amount of radiation you received. If you received an x-ray with low radiation then the affects of it will happen later in life but if you received an x-ray with a high dose the effects will show up sooner than later. “Lower doses of radiation, such as from imaging tests are not known to cause short-term health problems” (American Cancer Society). As a patient you need to make sure how much radiation you are receiving at that time so you know about the long or short term effects on your body and how to deal with the effects later on. The effects of x-rays depends on how long you had to get the radiation and what part of the body it was being exposed to. “Sensitivity to the radiation depends on your age, with children being more sensitive than adults” (Mayo Clinic). Different parts of the body take in radiation different than other parts which makes some parts more dangerous than others. In order for the x-rays to affect your body you must take extensive x-rays for a long period of time. The one thing that the patient must make sure they do if to tell the doctor if they are pregnant or think they may be pregnant before you receive the x-ray. The risks to your unborn baby is small but your doctor may consider a different test if they think the patient appsolutely needs an x-ray. The doctor will also take into consideration is the testing is really necessary in the first place. The machines used to diagnose use much higher doses than treatments use. The radiologist is more at risks of side effects than the patient. Some symptoms of radiation include: fainting, confusion, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hair loss, skin/mouth sores and bleeding. Even though the symptoms may seem a bit scary but there is always good in the bad. The symptoms may vary from minor to major depending on the person who received the radiation. Mayo Clinic says, “Generally, however, radiation exposure from an x-ray is low, and the benefit from these tests far outweigh the risks.” If that isn’t enough proof for the patient that an x-ray is safe then nothing will change their outlook on x-rays and they will always believe in the same things. There is a costs for everything but some things are more expensive than others. The cost of an x-ray depends on which one you receive and most of the time your health insurance will cover the cost of your x-ray or at least most of the cost. X-rays are not cheap by any mean but anything you get done in the health field is not cheap. Ultrasonography is still the cheapest and most harmless technology in radiology. There are many people included in the process of taking or reading the x-rays that is why they call so much but it shouldn’t matter the costs when you don’t feel well. For the people without health insurance x-rays can cost anywhere from $100-$1,000 or more. It is better to have some kind of health insurance because even a little help is health otherwise you have to pay that money out of pocket which can take a toll on a patient's home life. Some additional scans like MRI or CT scan which could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 or more. The big thing to remember is that there is always help whether it be money or health. First the technologist will activate the machine, which emits x-rays that pass through the area of the body being x-rayed and creates and image recording plate or film to be read by the doctor. Included in the cost of an x-ray is a radiologist will interpret the images and send a report and/or talk with the physician who ordered the x-ray. The doctor will read the image and tell the patient what they need to do next so they feel better. As a patient you should not feel intimidated by the price of things if you need to get the procedure done because there are ways to get help when needing to pay for things. A radiologist may add a contrast medium into your body for better images. The contrast mediums are a bluish color so that it is a different color than your blood. Mayo Clinic said that a contrast medium is, “A substance introduced into a part of the body in order to improve the visibility of internal structure during radiology.” There are symptoms with everything that a doctor does or gives you and here are the ones that are the worst from contrast medium: severe low blood pressure, shock and cardiac arrest. The mild ones include warmth/flushing, metallic taste, lightheadedness, nausea, itching and hives. The patient must remember that everyone can get the symptoms differently because it depends on the health of the person. So knowing the symptoms should not scare you out of getting the tests done if the doctor thinks that you need them to figure out why you are feeling the way that you are. If any of these things happen make sure to tell your doctor as soon as you can so that the symptoms don’t become worse or life threatening. The doctor is there to help you but the things they give you may make you sick but just know that they are also there to help you again when you need it.
This job can be sad but the good things outweigh the bad; the caregiver has to let go because nothing more can be done besides further treatment. Radiology is a very complex work of study because no day is the same routine because every patient that walks through your door is different. Some days multiple patients come in while other days only a few come in and no procedure is the same procedure. With this job a radiology technician meets with the patient and sees what is wrong, takes the images and then gives the images to the doctor because they aren’t allowed to tell the patient what could be wrong with them. If you are a radiologist then you are classified as a doctor and can read and tell the patient about what you found in their images. As a healthcare provider you must treat everyone the same because you don’t know what is going on in their life and you are just there to help them get the answers they truly deserve to have. Everyone should thrive to do something that will make someone feel better whether it be about themselves or with their health. The biggest thing to remember is that there are always people to help you through a time in need because they are only there to help you and make you feel better again.
fearing their health and thinking why they even put themselves in this kind of danger. Costhelper Health said, “X-rays are used for diagnosis and treatment in a variety of situations-- from dental surgery to broken bones.” What the patient doesn’t know is that the danger is actually not getting the x-ray because then they will never find out why they feel the way they do. A physician that specializes in radiology is called a Radiologist. Radiation can be categorized into two areas and those are diagnostic and interventional radiology. Diagnostic radiation helps healthcare professionals see structures inside your body and they can do this with many different types of equipment. Interventional radiation helps doctors to guide them through a procedure and treating things such as cancer, blocking of arteries and so many more. When an x-ray is taken the bones show up white while the gases show up black and soft tissues show up in shades of gray. The bones show up white in an x-ray because they absorb most of the radiation while the gases show up black because they let most of the radiation pass through.
There are many different types of radiology and those would include fluoroscopy, radiography and ct scan.
Fluoroscopy is considered the “movie equivalent” of standard x-rays because the radiologist can take snapshots while the patient is moving. This type uses more than the regular amount but it is still small. Mary Masteron once said, “She came up with a whole way of doing fluoroscopy, which is kind of like a live version of X-ray, so that she could see the heart as it worked, not frozen in a picture.” Radiography is the most familiar type of radiation technique and it uses electromagnetic radiation instead of visible light and this type uses the smallest amount of radiation. Electromagnetic radiation is produced when charged particles of sufficient energy hit a material. Computerized Tomography commonly known as a CT scan, during this procedure the patient ties on the table and enters a ring-shaped scanner and this type uses the highest dose of radiation because so many images are taken at once. Radiology itself is non-invasive, guiding and can be used to find unexpected things inside the body. Non-invasive means that this procedure doesn’t go inside the body with a tool instead the rays stay on the outside while taking images of the patient's insides. Guiding means that the doctor can use rays to help them by finding where in the body they need to go to do a procedure. The best thing about an x-ray may be that the doctor can find unexpected things inside the body that may be harming the patient’s health while treating or diagnosing something
else. Some people are afraid to get an x-ray because they think it will be bad for their health but if they truly need an x-ray to figure out what is wrong with them then they should consider it. Tim Newman once said, “Everyone on the planet is exposed to a certain amount of radiation as they go about their daily lives. Radioactive material is found naturally in the air, soil, water, rocks and vegetation. The greatest source of natural radiation for most people is radon.” That quote tells the reader that not all radiation is harmful to the body. Radiation can not be detected by our senses. Radiation is a material that is used worldwide (Mestrovic). X-rays are classified as a carcinogen meaning they are cancer causing. The amount of cancers caused by x-rays is so low that it is only 0.4%. “According to one study, by the age of 75, x-rays will increase the risk of cancer by 0.6-1.8%. In other words, the risks are minimal compared to the benefits of medical imaging” (Newman). Tim Newman also said, “X-rays can cause mutation in our DNA and, therefore, might lead to cancer later in life.” Daniel Grosch said, “Radiobiologist desire to know how rays other than those of the visible spectrum can alter a cell, a tissue, an organism or its progeny.” Each x-ray gives off a different amount of radiation meaning a high or low dose and each has their own side effects. Mayo Clinic says, “The amount of radiation you’re exposed to during an x-ray depends on the tissue or organ being examined.” You can calculate the radiation given to patients and label it as long or short term. If you have received an x-ray there may be an affect on your body later in life but they should be very mild depending on the amount of radiation you received. If you received an x-ray with low radiation then the affects of it will happen later in life but if you received an x-ray with a high dose the effects will show up sooner than later. “Lower doses of radiation, such as from imaging tests are not known to cause short-term health problems” (American Cancer Society). As a patient you need to make sure how much radiation you are receiving at that time so you know about the long or short term effects on your body and how to deal with the effects later on. The effects of x-rays depends on how long you had to get the radiation and what part of the body it was being exposed to. “Sensitivity to the radiation depends on your age, with children being more sensitive than adults” (Mayo Clinic). Different parts of the body take in radiation different than other parts which makes some parts more dangerous than others. In order for the x-rays to affect your body you must take extensive x-rays for a long period of time. The one thing that the patient must make sure they do if to tell the doctor if they are pregnant or think they may be pregnant before you receive the x-ray. The risks to your unborn baby is small but your doctor may consider a different test if they think the patient appsolutely needs an x-ray. The doctor will also take into consideration is the testing is really necessary in the first place. The machines used to diagnose use much higher doses than treatments use. The radiologist is more at risks of side effects than the patient. Some symptoms of radiation include: fainting, confusion, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hair loss, skin/mouth sores and bleeding. Even though the symptoms may seem a bit scary but there is always good in the bad. The symptoms may vary from minor to major depending on the person who received the radiation. Mayo Clinic says, “Generally, however, radiation exposure from an x-ray is low, and the benefit from these tests far outweigh the risks.” If that isn’t enough proof for the patient that an x-ray is safe then nothing will change their outlook on x-rays and they will always believe in the same things. There is a costs for everything but some things are more expensive than others. The cost of an x-ray depends on which one you receive and most of the time your health insurance will cover the cost of your x-ray or at least most of the cost. X-rays are not cheap by any mean but anything you get done in the health field is not cheap. Ultrasonography is still the cheapest and most harmless technology in radiology. There are many people included in the process of taking or reading the x-rays that is why they call so much but it shouldn’t matter the costs when you don’t feel well. For the people without health insurance x-rays can cost anywhere from $100-$1,000 or more. It is better to have some kind of health insurance because even a little help is health otherwise you have to pay that money out of pocket which can take a toll on a patient's home life. Some additional scans like MRI or CT scan which could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 or more. The big thing to remember is that there is always help whether it be money or health. First the technologist will activate the machine, which emits x-rays that pass through the area of the body being x-rayed and creates and image recording plate or film to be read by the doctor. Included in the cost of an x-ray is a radiologist will interpret the images and send a report and/or talk with the physician who ordered the x-ray. The doctor will read the image and tell the patient what they need to do next so they feel better. As a patient you should not feel intimidated by the price of things if you need to get the procedure done because there are ways to get help when needing to pay for things. A radiologist may add a contrast medium into your body for better images. The contrast mediums are a bluish color so that it is a different color than your blood. Mayo Clinic said that a contrast medium is, “A substance introduced into a part of the body in order to improve the visibility of internal structure during radiology.” There are symptoms with everything that a doctor does or gives you and here are the ones that are the worst from contrast medium: severe low blood pressure, shock and cardiac arrest. The mild ones include warmth/flushing, metallic taste, lightheadedness, nausea, itching and hives. The patient must remember that everyone can get the symptoms differently because it depends on the health of the person. So knowing the symptoms should not scare you out of getting the tests done if the doctor thinks that you need them to figure out why you are feeling the way that you are. If any of these things happen make sure to tell your doctor as soon as you can so that the symptoms don’t become worse or life threatening. The doctor is there to help you but the things they give you may make you sick but just know that they are also there to help you again when you need it.
This job can be sad but the good things outweigh the bad; the caregiver has to let go because nothing more can be done besides further treatment. Radiology is a very complex work of study because no day is the same routine because every patient that walks through your door is different. Some days multiple patients come in while other days only a few come in and no procedure is the same procedure. With this job a radiology technician meets with the patient and sees what is wrong, takes the images and then gives the images to the doctor because they aren’t allowed to tell the patient what could be wrong with them. If you are a radiologist then you are classified as a doctor and can read and tell the patient about what you found in their images. As a healthcare provider you must treat everyone the same because you don’t know what is going on in their life and you are just there to help them get the answers they truly deserve to have. Everyone should thrive to do something that will make someone feel better whether it be about themselves or with their health. The biggest thing to remember is that there are always people to help you through a time in need because they are only there to help you and make you feel better again.