Are their any other medical uses for x-rays ?

Question

i know that their is one obvious answer to check if bones have been broken. but does anybody know any other medical uses ?

thanks

Answer 1

As imaging, you don't just use x-rays to look at the bones.  You also look at soft tissues, air spaces and alignment, so you use them to look at the lungs if you suspect lung disease, the intestines to detect things like ileus (paralysis of the gut, basically) and sometimes they are useful for seeing calcification in things like kidney stones or growths like fibroids or old granulomas.  

If there is a foreign body with a density that's different from tissue, it will also show up (if you swallow a penny, you can see where it is in the digestive tract and follow it through, and rule out that it is in the lung or bronchus, for example).

X-rays were the basis for the development of radiotherapy, as well.

The disadvantage of X-ray is that it is limited in how much differentiation you can get, and it is taken in only one dimension (everything is superimposed on anything that is in front of or behind it).  If you need more detailed imaging, CT scans (CAT scans) are basically fancy two-dimensional X-rays that can show many more levels of density, so they are really an improved medical imaging system based on X-ray.

Answer 2

And of course, x-rays are used to treat cancerous tumors. Generally, a narrow beam is  focused on the tumor, often from different angles so that the tumor gets the major part of the radiation, and less radiation is given to surrounding tissue.

Sometimes radioactive material is implanted into a tumor area for a few days or longer.

Formerly x-rays were used to treat a variety of skin conditions such as fungal infections, warts, and acne. This practice is largely passé because of the risk of developing cancer at the radiation site years later.

Answer 3

To detect drug smugglers that ingest mass quantities of balloons filled with cocaine!

Answer 4

You can use it to determine the physical structure of a protein molecule which has been crystallized in order to predict interactions with a drug molecule for research purposes. Look up x-ray crystallography

Answer 5

As Marie astutely pointed out x-rays have a multitude of clinical applications which exceed the simply evaluation of fractures.  X-rays are used extensively in angiographic suite, i.e. fluoroscopy, endovascular procedures, C-arms employ the use of x-rays in order to create images for Orthopaedic surgeons so that proper osseous realignment can take place.  Radiography is quick and cheap.  The radiation exposure to the patient is very little.  Even though there are only 4 radiodensities that can be identified on radiography, there are any number of signs on basic radiography that are pathognomonic for any number of pathologies.  Radiography of the neck, airway (to exclude foreign objects and/or epiglottitis are very important).  The diagnosis of tension pneumothorax in a patient on mechanical ventilation is a critical function of radiography.  Another use of radiography involves assisting rheumatolotists differentiate between any number of arthridites bases on radiography of the hands to help distinguish rheumatoid, psoriatic, gouty arthritides, etc.