X-rays in Medicine

X-rays in Medicine

1. Hospitals

   • Features of X-ray
     • High Frequency Short Wavelength electromagnetic waves
     • Theire wavelength is the similar size as the diameter of an atom
     • Transmitted ny healthy tissue but absorbed by denser materials like bones and metal.
     • Affect photographic film in the same way as light so they can be used tot ake photographs
   • Diagnose medical conditions:
     • Bone fractures
     • Dental problems
   • CCDs (Charge-coupled devices)
     • X-rays can be formed electronically using CCDs.
     • CCDs are silicon chips (size of a post stamp), divided into a grid of millions of identical pixels.
     • Detect X-rays and produce electronic signals used to dorm high resolution images. Same technology is used to take photos in digital cameras.

2. CT Scans

   • Computerised Axial Tomography
   • Produces high resolution images of soft and hard tissue because Ct scans uses a lot of x-rays to distinguishbetween the tiny variations in tissue density
   • Patient is put insde the cylindrical scanner. Then an x-ray beam is fired through the body from an X-ray tube and picked up by detectors on the opposite side. The X-ray tube and deetectors are rotated during the scan. A computer interprets the signals from the detectors to form an images of a two-dimensional slice through the body.
   • Multiple two-dimensional CT scans can be put together to make a three-dimensional image of the inside of the body.

3. Treat Cancer

   • X-rays cause ionisation
     • High doses kill living cells so can be used to treat cancers
       • X-rays have to be carefully focused at the right dosage to kill cancer cells without damaging to many normal cells
   • 1) X-rays are focused on the tumour using a wide beam 2) This beam is rotated round the patient with the tumour at the centre. 3) This minimises the exposure of normal cells to radiation and so reduces the chances of damaging thhe rest of the body

4. Radiographers

   • Prolonged expore to ionising radiation can be very dangerous to your health so Radiographers working with X-ray machines or CT scanners need to take precautions to minimise their X-ray dose
   • Precautions taken
     • Wear lead aprons Stand behind a lead screen or leave the room
     • Lead used to shield areas of the patient's body that aren't being scanned
     • Exposure time is kept to a minimum
     • Wear Badgess that record the amount of radiation they are expose to
       • Means that their radiation dose can be monitored and regulated