Imaging of the Lung Flashcards
What are the pros and cons of chest radiographs?
Pros: quick, inexpensive, and good for general overview
Cons: susceptible to artifact and technique; can miss subtle disease; requires patient cooperation
The x-ray beam passes through the body _______ in a PA view.
posterior-to-anterior
The heart appears magnified in ______ views.
AP
The lateral decubitus position is named for __________.
the side that the patient is lying on, so the patient is on their left side in left lateral decubitus
What is a good method for determining if the patient is rotated in a chest x-ray?
Look at the medial heads of the clavicles–they should be equidistant from the vertebrae.
The right-lower lobe takes up about _______ of the lung.
2/3
The left-lower lobe abuts the diaphragm, so ______________.
fluid in the LLL will make the lung-diaphragm border indistinct
A lateral view is key to view the _______ part of the lungs.
lower, because the lungs extend more inferiorly on the posterior side, and thus a AP/PA view will be obscured by stomach contents
Pleural effusion appears on chest radiographs as ___________.
blunted costophrenic angles. The angles between the diaphragm and the lungs should be sharp, both on the medial and lateral sides; if they are flattened or display a meniscus, then effusion is likely
In a lateral view, the vertebrae should get ___________.
blacker as they get more inferior (this is the “spine sign”)
What disorders can be better detected in a lateral decubitus position?
Small pneumothoraces and pleural effusions (fluid falls and air ascends)
In terms of exposure, you should just be able to make out the ____________.
vertebral bodies behind the mediastinum
What is achalasia?
An extra cardiomediastinal line on chest x-ray due to dlated esophagus
Pleural nodularity appears as __________ and indicates ___________.
lines along the sides of the lungs; mesothelioma
How do the heart and trachea shift in a pneumothorax?
To the opposite side that the pneumothorax occurred on
