By: Shikha Gupta, M.D., MPH ` January 17th, 2023
What is a Radiologist?
Radiologists are medical doctors specializing in diagnosing injuries and diseases using medical imaging procedures such as X-rays, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography, and ultrasounds. Radiologists complete 13 years of training, including medical school, a five-year residency, and most often, an additional one- or two-year fellowship of very specialized training, such as pediatric radiology, musculoskeletal imagining, nuclear medicine, interventional radiology, etc.
We went over many different types of radiology, but I'm going to cover the three most interesting.
FLUOROSCOPY
Fluoroscopy and angiography are special applications of X-ray imaging, in which a fluorescent screen and image intensifier tube are connected to a closed-circuit television system. Fluoroscopy allows for the real-time imagining of structures in motion or augmented with a radiocontrast agent.
The agents are administered by swallowing or injecting a colored liquid to see how the organ systems are working in real-time.
CT SCAN
A CT Scan, computed tomography, makes an image with X-rays in conjunction with computing algorithms to image the body. The first commercially viable CT scanner was invented by Sir Gregory Hounsfield at EMI Central Research Labs, Great Britain in 1972. In a CT, an X-ray tube opposite an X-ray detector in a ring-shaped apparatus rotates around a patient, producing a computer-generated cross-sectional image. This form of imaging takes around 45 minutes but allows for the image to have intense detail.
MRI
An MRI, magnetic resonance imaging, uses strong magnetic fields to align atomic nuclei within body tissues, then uses a radio signal to disturb the axis of rotation of these nuclei and observes the radio frequency signal generated as the nuclei return to their baseline states. The radio signals are collected by small antennae, called coils, placed near the area of interest. An advantage o fMRI is its ability to produce images in multiple oblique planes with equal ease. MRI scans give the best soft tissue contrast of all the imaging modalities.
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