Patient Factors Flashcards
What patient factors influence required radiographic technique?
- size and shape (body habitus)
- anatomy density (thickness)
- pathology
- composition (chest vs abdomen)
Body Habitus
Body Habitus
Sthenic
“strong, active”. Average size
Hyposthenic
thin but healthy in appearance
Hypersthenic
large framed and usually overweight
Asthenic
small, frail, emaciated and often elderly
Thickness
Thickness
The thicker the patient the more _______ are needed to _________ to expose the image receptor
- x-rays
- penetrate the body
kV is based on ________
body part thickness
Do not guess thickness use _______
calipers
Composition
Measuring the thickness of a part doesn’t automatically release the technologist from excercising some additional judgement when selecting the ____________
proper technical factors
Chest
- lung (air), ribs (bone), heart (muscle)
- high contrast: black/white minimal grays
Abdomen
- stomach, bowels, liver, kidney, spleen, pancreas, diaphragm, urinary, bladder
- low contrast: many shades of gray
Radiopaque
- difficult to penetrate
- bone, metal
Radiolucent
- easy to penetrate
- air, soft tissue
Pathology
______, _______, and _______ will influence radiographic technique
- type, size, and composition
Obtaining good ________ and previous exams will help assessment
patient history
__________ causing tissues to be more radiolucent ex) osteoporosis
destructive process
_______ in increase mass density and composition ex) osteopetrosis
constructive
