Is polypropylene (plastic) detectable in the body by X-Ray?

Question

Is polypropylene (plastic) detectable in the body by X-Ray?

Answer 1

Seeing an object is dependent on what the polypropylene is inside. (What is around the polypropylene). In the trachea or lung, it is easy to see plastic. We do X-rays to check endotracheal tube placement often. In the gut, if is were in just normal water, food and digestive liquids, it may be difficult to see, but if you add oral contrast, it would be seen as a dark area within the contrast.

If it is the tissues, it might be easier to see in fat tissue which is less dense than the polypropylene than it would be seen if it was embedded in the muscle.

CT scan is more sensitive for seeing subtle changes in density.

MRI would quite easily see polypropylene because it has no oxygen bound hydrogens.

Ultrasound would also see polypropylene in the tissues because the differences in the speed of sound in the plastic verses the tissue.

Old Doc and Ultrasonographer