How To Read X Rays

This quick guide shows you some of what we see and what we are looking for.

How to read x rays. The silhouette of the heart should be identified and the heart borders should be clear. If the heart base is 1 2 the width of the diaphragm on the chest x ray it refers to cardiomegaly or pericardial effusion. With x rays you can only see the hard tissues such as the teeth and bone but you cannot see the. Butterfly segment complex. Nine pairs of ribs should be seen posteriorly in order to consider a chest x ray adequate in terms of inspiration.

Examples will follow for each fracture pattern. Systematic reading of x rays identify type of fracture simple. Above all else make sure you are looking at the correct chest x ray first. The purple arrows are pointing to areas of decay which show up as a dark spot on x rays. Fat and muscle appear as shades of gray.

This is an x ray of the back teeth on the upper arch. 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. Remember to compare with old x rays. The air in your lungs shows up as black. A close second to reading chest x rays learning how to read a musculoskeletal image is an essential skill to have much can be said about specific diagnoses that can be made on plain imaging but this post is more about an approach to a general msk x ray whether it is a study of the fingers hands wrists forearms humeri.

Step 1 check the patient s name. The dentin layer is between the enamel and the pulp. It is easy to miss a fracture with only one view see red circle. 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. The red arrows are pointing to the pulp where the nerve and blood vessels are located for a tooth.

Spiral oblique transverse wedge. How to read x rays dental x rays enable us to see inside a tooth. The green arrows are pointing to the bone. As a general rule the heart base should not be wider than 1 2 the total width of the diaphragm. Name and date of birth of the patient side of extremity body date of x ray two views help to fully describe the fracture in both planes.