1 Intro to Medical Imaging Techiques Flashcards

1
Q

Q: What is CT scanning? How?

A

A: computed tomography
-using x rays to produce cross sectional images of body

x ray tube spins around patient and detector spins around patient opposite the tube
-> computer performs calculations to produce cross-sectional map of tissue density -> get 2D / 3D map

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2
Q

Q: What id radiology called today?

A

A: diagnostic imaging

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3
Q

Q: What is interventional radiology? (2)

A

A: branch on imagining

-minimally invasive surgery carried out under X ray imaging guidance

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4
Q

Q: What is radiotherapy?

A

A: use of high energy x rays to treat cancer

-therapeutic

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5
Q

Q: What is a radiologist?

A

A: doctor specialising in interpretation of medical imaging

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6
Q

Q: What is a radiographer?

A

A: non medical person/ technician that takes images

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7
Q

Q: What are the 2 types of diagnostic imaging? Give examples (3,2).

A

A: ionising

  • X ray
  • computed tomography CT
  • nuclear medicine

non ionising

  • ultrasound
  • magnetic resonance imaging MRI
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8
Q

Q: What is the problem with ionising radiation? (2)

A

A: risk of inducing cancer years after exposure

-higher risk if exposed before 30years hence try and limit use on children and young adults

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9
Q

Q: How does an x ray passing through the human body create an image?

A

A: -because of inherent contrast between different body parts
-if lots of x rays pass through=appear black and if not =appear white

  • air= black
  • fat= dark grey
  • soft tissue= grey
  • bone, calcium= white
  • metal= really white
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10
Q

Q: What does a chest radiograph look like? (4)

A

A: -healthy lungs are composed mainly of air= very black

  • mediastinal structures are made of soft tissue = grey
  • air around patient= black
  • bone=white
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11
Q

Q: What do bones look like on a radiograph?

A

A: centre= marrow= fat= darker than outside

outside= dense cortical area (outer shell) = white

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12
Q

Q: On a chest radiograph, what can X rays not distinguish between?

A

A: heart muscle, pericardium and blood inside heart

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13
Q

Q: How can inherent tissue contrast be improved?

A

A: administration of contrast agent

-enhance differences between tissues of similar densities

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14
Q

Q: Give 2 examples of contrast agents. How can they be given? (3)

A

A: -barium (swallow, through rectum)

-iodine (into artery or vein)

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15
Q

Q: What are CT windows? What do they allow us to see?(3)

A

A: we can choose which parts we want to emphasise

  • soft tissue (muscles in chest wall and structures in mediastinum)
  • bone (cortex and medulla of bone)
  • lung (can see presence of cancer/pneumonia)
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16
Q

Q: Name 3 CT reconstructions.

A

A: 1. sagittal= see shape of spine (CS from front to back)

  1. axial (transverse)= cut where belt is
  2. coronal= CS from side to side
17
Q

Q: What is the contrast agent used in CT? Risks? (2) Advantages? (2)

A

A: iodine (in arm vein)

  • allergic reaction
  • kidney damage
  • enhances blood vessels and makes them easier to see
  • differentiates pathological from normal tissue
18
Q

Q: What does a CT show when a patient has a right upper lobe pulmonary embolus? What is this?

A

A: black hole in pulmonary artery

-blood clot in legs that has travelled up to lungs= life threatening but we can now diagnose

19
Q

Q: How does a CT show liver tumours? Why is using a contrast agent important?

A

A: shown as little black holes in liver

tumours have slightly different blood supply to the rest of liver so if we did it without contrast agent-> probably would have missed it

20
Q

Q: Give an example of a 3D reconstruction.

A

A: pelvis

21
Q

Q: What is an optical colonoscopy? Virtual? What can be seen?

A

A: medical test to inspect colon using very thin camera

small tube is inserted into rectum-> CO2 inserted-> distended up-> get 3D reconstruction = endoluminal view of colon

polyps

22
Q

Q: How do ultrasounds produce images? Transducer? (2) Safety?

A

A: uses high frequency sounds to make 2D image

transducer
-speaker: sends sound into patient
-microphone: records sound coming back from patient
(use time difference to work out where structures are)

no radiation hazard, completely safe

23
Q

Q: How have ultrasounds changed? (2)

A

A: -machines are much smaller

-used to be really hard to interpret but now even have 3D obstetric ones

24
Q

Q: How are magnetic resonance images created? (4)

A

A: -strong magnet, supercooled with liquid helium

  • transmit radio wave pulses into patient
  • listen to return radio waves caused by interaction with protons (water) in the patient’s body
  • different tissues give different intensities of returned radiowaves -> image
25
Q

Q: What are the 2 types of MRI?

A

A: T1 and 2

26
Q

Q: How do these structures appear on CT, MRI (T1) and MRI (T2):

(cortical) bone.
fluid.
fat.

A

A: white, black, black

dark grey, black, white

black, white, white

27
Q

Q: What does nuclear imaging use? (2) How are images made? Name 2 uses.

A

A: -radioactive tracers that emit (ionising) radiation
-different tracers go to different organs/ parts of body

images are made by detecting the radiation coming out of the patient by gamma camera

  • bone (see tumours)
  • lungs: see blood flow and ventilation
28
Q

Q: What is positron emission tomography? Uses? (3)

A

A: PET

  • detects metabolic or functional changes in body rather than structural changes
  • particularly effective in identifying whether cancer is present or not (diagnosis) -> if it has spread (staging), and if it is responding to treatment
29
Q

Q: What are the benefits of PET/CT combined tests?

A

A: -better anatomical localisation of cancers

-faster and more specific than PET alone

30
Q

Q: What’s the difference between lateral and medial?

A

A: talking about relationship to centre of body or structure/limb

  • medial is closer to centre
  • lateral is closer to edge of body
31
Q

Q: How an you tell, looking at a cross sectional image, which is the left and right side?

A

A: imagine you are at the foot of the bed, looking at the patient= standard

right -eg brain image- left