rayDiagnostic Radiology

Diagnostic radiology is concerned with the use of various imaging modalities to aid in the diagnosis of disease. Diagnostic radiology can be further divided into multiple sub-specialty areas. Interventional radiology, one of these sub-specialty areas, uses the imaging modalities of diagnostic radiology to guide minimally invasive surgical procedures.

Diagnostic Radiology is now a very broad field which encompasses the use of a number of different imaging modalities that are fairly commonly known including CT scanning, MRI, ultrasound, Radiology meaning Radiography and X-rays, and nuclear medicine.

Radiation is energy that is emitted in waves and particles, we can harness that energy in order to allow us to image parts of the body, and that is the basis for radiology.

Natural radiation is radiation we find in our environment and are exposed to in our environment .Examples include cosmic rays that come from outer space. And they are typically in the form of particles that come through our atmosphere. Other forms of radiation can come from various portions of the earth including rocks and elements that are in the ground.


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X-Rays

X-rays can be used to provide information about your health (eg. broken bones), as an adjunct to assist with the guidance and placement of tubes or other devices in the body (eg. for kidney dialysis) or with other therapeutic procedures (epidural injection).

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Computed Tomography (CT)

In a conventional x-ray structures are superimposed on top of one another, making it difficult to get a clear picture. With CT, cross-sectional images of the area of interest are examined on a computer monitor.  As a result, CT provides greater clarity and reveal greater detail than regular x-rays. Learn more about CT colonography....

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Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

MRIs are great for looking at all the soft tissues and organs of the body like organs and tissue that x-rays don’t see. It works by using a radio waves and a strong magnet to redirect the axes of spinning protons (making them all line up uniformly and then making them scatter) in each of the atoms in the body part being studied. There are detectors in the MRI machine that read the various radio waves created and subsequently generates a series of images in cross-sectional “slices”.

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Ultrasound


Ultrasound uses the same principle as sonar, bouncing sound waves off objects in the body. The sound waves bounce back from boundaries between different tissues, like water and fat, or fat and muscle. Ultrasound helps physicians diagnose medical conditions by showing the structure and movement of the body’s internal organs, (eg. the heart, or the uterus to examine a fetus) as well as blood flow through vessels, eg. arteries. There are different types of ultrasound technologies that are used for a variety of studies including 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional, 4-dimensional (3D plus motion) and Doppler.
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Mammography

Mammography is the process of using low-dose amplitude-X-rays (usually around 0.7 mSv) to examine the human breast. The goal of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer, typically through detection of characteristic masses and/or microcalcifications. Mammography is believed to reduce mortality from breast cancer.
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