Medical radiography

Radiography

Radiography of the knee in a modern X-ray machine.
System	Musculoskeletal
Subdivisions	Interventional, Nuclear, Oncological
Significant diseases	Cancer, Bone fractures
Significant tests	Screening tests, X-ray, CT, MRI, PET, Bone scan
Specialist	Radiographer

Radiography is an imaging technique that uses electromagnetic radiation other than visible light, specifically X-rays, to view the internal structure of a non-uniformly composed and opaque object (i.e. a non-transparent object of varying density and composition) such as the human body. To create the image, a heterogeneous beam of X-rays is produced by an X-ray generator and is projected toward the object. A certain amount of X-ray is absorbed by the object, which is dependent on the particular density and composition of that object. The X-rays that pass through the object are captured behind the object by a detector (either photographic film or a digital detector). The generation of 2D images by this technique is called projectional radiography. Computed tomography (CT scanning) is where multiple 2D images from different angles undergo computer processing to generate 3D representations.

Applications of radiography include medical (or "diagnostic") radiography and industrial radiography. Similar techniques are used in airport security (where "body scanners" generally use backscatter X-ray).

In medicine, projectional radiographs and computed tomography images are generally use X-rays created by X-ray generators, which generate X-rays from X-ray tubes.

A number of other sources of X-ray photons are possible, and may be used in industrial radiography or research; these include betatrons, and linear accelerators (linacs) and Synchrotrons. For gamma rays, radioactive sources such as ¹⁹²Ir, ⁶⁰Co or ¹³⁷Cs are used.