X-Rays Made Easy

What is It?

    Medical x-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation with a certain wavelength. X-rays allow for a quick and easy way of capturing what the inside of the body looks like and how to deal with the problem. X-rays are used for diagnosing a patient when an incision or other means of examining the inside of the body would be difficult or costly. One of the uses is in broken bones. Doctors who obtain an x-ray of the bone will know exactly where the bone is broken, how bad it is, and how to fix it. Without x-rays, the doctor would have to make a guess of where the bone had been broken, and in trying to fix the injury, might err in his calculation and result in bones healing incorrectly. X-rays get rid of this chance of miscalculation. X-rays are not only used in studying problems with bones, but with organs and tissues as well. Although organs and tissues do not appear quite as obvious on an x-ray scan, different organs and tissues still have different densities, and an x-ray can tell them apart, using the different shades of gray. Doctors who study the images from the scans can study them and know where the problem is in an organ or tissue and how to properly diagnose it.

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History

    X-rays were discovered by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen in 1895 when he was using a glass cathode ray tube with negative and positive electrodes at either side. Roentgen pumped air out of the tube and applied a high voltage on it--resulting in the emitting of a fluorescent light. When he covered the glass cathode ray tube with heavy black paper, a green fluorescent glow appeared a few feet away from him on the table. This occurrence brought Roentgen to the conclusion that the green glow emitted from the tube was a new type of ray. The new ray could pass through heavy black paper and human body tissue, but not bones or metal objects. X-rays are formed when electrons hit a heavy metal target (e.g. copper). Some electrons will attempt to attach to the nuclei in the metal (because electrons are negative and the nuclei are positive), but will be thrown off. The electrons being thrown off results in x-rays being produced. The x-ray was named by Roentgen who was also a physicist. Roentgen was unsure of what the ray was, so he used the popular math variable “x” in place of the word describing what kind of ray it was. Like UV waves and microwaves, x-rays are forms of electromagnetic radiation. Lead easily absorbs radiation such as x-rays or gamma rays due to its higher density than the radiation. Having a higher density means that the lead has more atoms, and therefore electrons, to stop the radiation from passing through. 

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How Does It Work?

    These x-rays have enough energy to pass through solid objects, such as the body, where x-rays are primarily used. Because these wavelengths can pass through the body, they are used to produce images of the body in order to avoid an incision or other procedure to study a problem that might be occurring in the body. X-rays work by using an x-ray emitter and x-ray detector. The x-rays are sent out of the machine, through the patient’s body, and into the x-ray detector. As the x-rays travel through the body of the patient, different amounts of x-rays are absorbed in different parts of the body, so when the x-rays reach the detector on the other side, a “shadow” can be seen of the inside of the patient’s body. This is why bones show up so much clearer than other parts of the body such as muscle or organ tissue. Bones contain a higher amount of calcium in them, which has a higher atomic number than that of most other body parts. Because of this, bones absorb more x-rays and produce a higher contrast on the x-ray detector, resulting in the white appearance bones have, while other tissues will be in different shades of gray. In this way, x-rays can be used to detect cancer before they can get too serious. Tumors will appear brighter than the surrounding tissue, and finding a tumor before it spreads can be life saving. Had the tumor not been detected with x-rays and removed, it could have spread throughout the rest of the body and killed that person.

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Other Medical Uses

    X-rays are not only used for viewing and diagnosing injuries. Diseases such as osteoporosis, a condition in which bones become brittle from loss of tissue, can be monitored and continually rechecked to see the progress of the disease. When a patient uses a treatment to help a disease, x-rays can be used to accurately show how much the treatment has been helping. If it seems that the treatment is not helping, the doctor can modify the treatment to get the best results. None of this would be possible without x-rays. Doctors would have no way of treating conditions like arthritis, lung conditions, infections, tooth decay, digestive problems, and many other conditions without x-rays. X-rays provide a means for the doctor to see into the patient without having to do any serious procedures to examine the affected area. They have forever changed the medical field and have aided millions of people to remedy a condition or even save their life.

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Risks

    X-rays use radiation, and some people worry it causes mutations in the cells, but the amount that is emitted is considered safe for adults.  Patients can wear a lead apron to cover certain parts of the body, like the reproductive organs, for extensive protection. Without the apron, the radiation may damage the egg cell, causing the whole future possible fetus to be compromised. If a woman is pregnant, she should let her doctor know because the radiation has a risk of harming the developing fetus. Generally, the risk is lower for adults than it is in children. However, the effect of X-rays of cumulative, meaning small doses over several years can build up to one large dose.