X-Ray Flashcards
How can exposure alter X-rays ?
Overexposure = dark image
Underexposure = bright white image
How do male and female X-rays differ?
Female= excess tissue
Consider body habits and positioning of tissues.
How is a PA chest X-ray image obtained usually?
Posterior to anterior
Patient standing up with their chest against the plate and xray shoots from behind them
How is an AP xray image obtained?
Anterior to posterior
May be used if the patient can’t stand or if the image is taken with a portable xray.
How does upright positioning affect the xray image?
Things drain posteriorly
Gravity can help with lung volume and expansion
Hemothorax and pleural effusions will drain to costo-phrenic angles.
How does a supine position affect an xray image?
Pt may not be able to breathe as well
Lungs and heart are harder to visualize and pulmonary vasculature becomes crowded
What are the main 3 things you are looking for when scanning the abdomen?
Gastric bubble and hemidiaphragms
How much of the lung fields and hills are obscured by other tissues ?
40%
Which side of the diaphragm is elevated higher than the other?
Right side.
Elevated by the liver
Which X-ray view might cause the heart to look enlarged?
PA
What are the 2 most important things to visualize when looking at the mediastinum and heart?
Aortic and cardiac silhouette
What cardiac structures are visualized on the right side?
- Inferior vena cava
- right atrium
- ascending aorta
- superior vena cava
What cardiac structures are visualized on the left?
- Left ventricle
- left atrium
- pulmonary artery
- aortic arch
- subclavian artery and vein
What is a common surgical emergency that manifests as free air under the diaphragm?
Perforated ulcers.
What is a tell-tell sign that the patient is rotated in the picture?
The spine and sternum are not on top of each other
Where do we want the ETT sitting in the X-ray image?
2-3 cm above the carina
How much of the field is occupied by the RUL on the anterior and R lateral views?
1/3
Posteriorly, the RUL is adjacent to which ribs?
1-3 to 5
Anteriorly, the RUL extends inferiorly as far as which rib?
4th right anterior rib
What does the right middle lobe look like on chest X-ray in anterior, lateral, and posterior views?
Anterior: bottom half of the right lung
Lateral: triangular in shape narrowest at the hilum
Posterior: not visualized
How far superiorly does the right lower lobe extend?
6th thoracic vertebral body.
What lobes does the right minor fissure separate?
RUL and RML
Represents the visceral pleural surfaces of both of these lobes
Which vertebrae does the right major fissure extend to?
4th
What is silhouette sign?
A normal air dense space surrounded by the soft tissue density of the mediastinum
A normal finding
