Question | Answer |
Radiography: Purpose? | Identify and screen for lung & lung disease, fractures, dislocations, bone growth, foreign objects. |
Radiography: Description? | 2D image of a 3D object; at least 2 views are required to not neglect an abnormality |
Radiography: ABCs? | Use ABCs to interpret a musculoskeletal radiograph
Alignment: size, contour, alignment with adjacent bone,
Bone density: density & texture
Cartilage spaces: joint space width, presence of sub-chondral bone, epiphyseal plates |
Radiography: Advantages? | Quick, easy. portable, relatively inexpensive |
Radiography: Disadvantages? | Ionizing radiation, poor at visualizing soft tissues and small fractures |
MRI: Purpose? | Provides sectional imaging of anatomy that is especially helpful for visualizing soft tissue. Also, can be configured into 3D models |
MRI: Description? | T1: fat is brighter & helpful in defining anatomy
T2: fluid is brighter, fat is suppressed; helpful for various joint pathologies. |
Functional MRI? | Used to detect metabolic changes in the brain |
MRI: Advantages? | High quality imaging of almost any structure in the body; contrast can be used to increase detail |
MRI: Disadvantages? | Expensive, time consuming, pt must lie perfectly still to avoid artifacts, may not be able to distinguish between edema & tumors, may cause metal implants to malfunction |
CT Scan: Purpose? | Sectional imaging of bone and most soft tissues; especially good for chest and abdomen; also able to measure bone density |
CT Scan: Description? | Special radiography with computer analysis that configures images from x-rays at various angles to show high quality cross sectional and 3D imaging of body tissues and organs. |
CT Scan: Advantages? | fast and provides high quality imaging of bone, soft tissue, blood vessels all at the same time. Contrast can be use to increase detail |
CT Scan: Disadvantages? | Large amounts of ionizing radiation. Not as good as MRI at viewing soft tissue. Bariatric limits. |
Bone scan: Purpose? | Helps to diagnose fractures not detected by x-ray and areas of damage to bone caused by cancer, trauma, infection, etc. |
Bone scan: Description? | uses gamma ray emission to detect newly forming bone. Radionucleotide used--> increased area of uptake mean metabolic activity. |
Bone scan: Advantages? | Small amounts of radiation, improved detection of abnormal bone metabolism |
Bone scan: Disadvantages? | slow, ionizing radiation, potential adverse affects from radionucleotide |
Angiography: Purpose? | Views blood vessels |
Angiography: Description? | catheter and contrast material used in conjunction with x-rays, CT or MRI to examine blood vessels |
Bone density exam: Purpose? | Measure bone mineral density. Used to delineate osteopenia from osteoporosis |
Bone density exam: Description? | Enhanced x-ray technique. Gold standard for measuring bone density |
Ultrasound: Purpose? | Helps diagnose partial tendon tears, soft tissue masses, pockets of fluid, muscle development of activation |
Ultrasound: Description? | sound capture real time images of various body structures and blood flowing through the vessel |
Positron emission tomography: purpose? | Use to detect non perfusing areas of the heart to evaluate brain in cases of undetermined dementia, stroke, seizures, memory disorders or suspected tumors |
PET: Description? | POsitrons emitting from radioactive substances are captured |