Radiography Flashcards
What is the effect of using a grid?
reduce the amount of scattered radiation reaching the cassette, but will necessitate increasing the exposures roughly three-fold
What does using a low mA mean?
long exposure times are required, resulting in an increasing likelihood of movement blur in the conscious patient
What should you ask before using a radiograph for diagnosis?
■■ Are they well positioned?
■■ Could the overlying forelimbs be hiding any cranial
thoracic pathology?
■■ Are the exposure factors optimal?
■■ Are the lungs adequately inflated?
■■ Is there good symmetry of the heart and lung fields
on the dorsoventral/ventrodorsal view?
■■ Could any of the changes seen be artifact?
■■ Do the changes explain the clinical signs?
■■ If the radiograph, or radiographs, are normal, are
there any further views that should be taken?
■■ Could there be disease elsewhere that would
explain the clinical signs?
■■ Could there be a thoracic disease that explains the
clinical signs that may not be visible on thoracic
radiographs?
What do you need to ensure you assess in a chest x-ray?
heart → pulmonary vessels → lung fields → trachea →
ribs → thoracic vertebrae → mediastinum → cranial
abdomen),
What are the types of lung atelectasis?
relaxing, obstructive, adhesive, and cicatrizing
The different types relate to the mechanism for which the lungs cannot inflate
What is relaxation atelectasis?
due to the unopposed tendency of the lung to collapse due to inherent elasticity.
Diseases that may produce this type of atelectasis are pneumothorax, pleural fluid, space-occupying lesion, and gravity-dependent and shallow breathing
What is obstructive atelectasis?
due to absorption of alveolar gas without replacement due to airway obstruction.
The differential diagnosis includes neoplasm, foreign body, mucous plugging (eg, asthma), infectious bronchitis or pneumonia
Whereas pneumonia typically produces lung consolidation, atelectasis may occur when the lung lobe is not completely filled with pus and exudates obstruct some of the airways, preventing refilling of alveolar gas.
What is adhesive atelectasis?
due to lumen surfaces of alveoli sticking together due to surfactant abnormality. Diseases include neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and pulmonary thrombosis
What is cicatrizing atelectasis?
occurs when the lungs do not increase in volume under normal respiration because of reduced compliance due to such things as chronic idiopathic fibrosis, chronic immune-mediated lung disease, chronic pneumonia, and radiation pneumonitis
What is atelectasis?
An incompletely expanded lung that has an increased opacity that completely or partially obscures the margins of pulmonary blood vessels and airway walls is called collapse or atelectasis.
Atelectasis is reduced inflation of all or part of the lung.
What are the radiographic signs of atelectasis?
a mediastinal shift toward the abnormal appearing lung, crowding and reorientation of pulmonary blood vessels, crowding of ribs, compensatory hyperinflation of other lung lobes, bronchial rearrangement, cardiac rotation, displacement of interlobar fissures, displacement of the diaphragm, change in location of abnormal structures, and rounded pulmonary margins. Not all need to be present to recognize atelectasis
What does a regional atelectasis suggest?
might suggest a local problem such as a foreign body, radiation pneumonitis, or recumbency.
What is consolidation?
A fully expanded lung that has a homogeneous increased opacity that obscures the margins of pulmonary blood vessels and airway walls
May or may not be air bronchograms
Consolidation is not an end-point diagnosis but rather refers to a condition where an exudate or other product of disease replaces alveolar air, rendering the lung solid
What is ground glass opacity?
A fully expanded lung that has a hazy increased opacity that only partially obscures the margins of pulmonary blood vessels and airway walls is called ground-glass opacity. This finding is caused by partial filling of air spaces, interstitial thickening (due to fluid, cells, or fibrosis), increased capillary blood volume, or a combination of these, the common factor being displacement of air.
What are the ddx for increased opacity in a fully expanded lung
pneumonia, neoplasia, hemorrhage, pulmonary edema, and immune-mediated diseases
What are the possible locations for lesions within the lungs?
cranioventral, caudodorsal, diffuse, lobar, focal, locally extensive, multifocal, and asymmetric.
What may locally extensive increased opacity that contains innumerable, small, gas bubbles suggest?
lung-lobe torsion with lung necrosis
When assessing the lungs, what should you assess?
■ Change in lung volume;
■ Location of pathology;
■ Bronchi and peribronchial tissue (bronchial pattern);
■ Number, size and course of blood vessels (vascular
pattern);
■ Increased opacity of the lungs (poor inflation, technical factors, alveolar or interstitial patterns);
■ Nodules and masses;
■ Mineralisation;
■ Decreased opacity of the lungs
How do the vessels appear in the lung?
The most visible structures in the lungs of normal, younger animals are the pulmonary blood vessels, but bronchial walls can also be identified in the central area.
A faint meshwork-like background opacity is created by
small vessels and airways that cannot be identified individually.
The arteries and veins run on either side of the corresponding bronchus
How do you assess sizes of vessels?
The maximum vessel diameter does not usually exceed the width of the proximal part of the fourth rib
For the orthogonal view, the DV projection is preferred
to the VD for the assessment of vessel size, and caudal
lobe vessels are compared with the ninth rib where they cross; similar normal size ranges apply.
What may be suggestive of air trapping?
If the lungs are well expanded without manual inflation on repeated radiographs, generalised air-trapping may be present. In such cases, the diaphragm will be flattened and displaced caudally and, in cats, the diaphragmatic attachments to the ribs may be evident on the DV/VD view, giving the diaphragm a ‘Christmas tree’ shape
What may a wide trachea suggest?
This indicates respiratory effort or significant lumenal
pressure during manual inflation.
What can cause increased pulmonary volume?
Deep inspiration Iatrogenic overinflation Dyspnoea Compensatory hyperinflation Air-trapping due to bronchospasm Emphysema (congenital/acquired) Pulmonary mass
What can cause decreased pulmonary volume?
Expiration Occlusion of airway due to: – Mucous plugs – Tumour in, or compressing, the bronchus – Foreign body – Endotracheal tube – Bronchospasm and air absorption Atelectasis under general anaesthesia Compression by expanded lung lobe(s)
What does Increased opacity of a lung lobe without a
change in volume suggest?
Consolidation
Which diseases are normally cranial and ventral?
Bronchopneumonia, lobar pneumonia, aspiration pneumonia, haemorrhage atelectasis
Which diseases are caudal and dorsal normally?
Cardiogenic oedema (especially hilar area in dogs), non-cardiogenic oedema, interstitial pneumonia, infarct due to pulmonary thromboembolus, haemorrhage, atelectasis
Which diseases are normally diffuse?
Acute cardiogenic and non-cardiogenic oedema, fibrosis, bronchitis, miliary metastases, haemorrhage atelectasis*, primary neoplasia in cats