Diagnostic Imaging Techniques

1
Diagnostic Imaging Techniques Treatments

• PowerPoint Presentation By
• Juliane Monko Dr. Frank Flanders
• CTAE Resource Network
• June 2009

2
Objectives

• Compare and contrast the five types of diagnostic
  imaging devices.
• Discuss the trends in diagnostic imaging
  procedures.
• Explain historical events and developments in
  imaging devices.

3
What is Diagnostic Imaging?

• Diagnostic imaging refers to technologies that
  doctors use to look inside your body for clues
  about a medical condition. Different machines and
  techniques can create pictures of the structures
  and activities inside your body.

4
Types of Diagnostic Imaging

• The technology your doctor uses will depend on
  your symptoms and the part of your body being
  examined.
• Types of diagnostic imaging include
• X-rays
• CT scans
• Nuclear medicine scans
• MRI scans
• Ultrasound
• PET/CT

5
Imaging Tests

• Many imaging tests are painless and easy.
  Although, some require you to stay still for a
  long time inside a machine. This can be
  uncomfortable. Certain tests involve radiation,
  but these are generally considered safe because
  the dosage is very low.
• For some imaging tests, a tiny camera attached to
  a long, thin tube is inserted in your body. This
  tool is called a scope. The doctor moves it
  through a body passageway or opening to see
  inside a particular organ, such as your heart,
  lungs or colon. These procedures often require
  anesthesia.

6
History

• Over the years the types of diagnostic imaging
  techniques have advanced.
• The newer techniques are less invasive and reduce
  the patients exposure to radiation.

7
A Look at History Shoe Fitting X-ray Device

• Shoe fitting x-ray machines were common in
  department stores in the late 1940s and early
  1950s.
• The purpose of the machine was to produce an
  image of how your shoe fit.
• By the 1970s, the radiation hazard of the shoe
  fitting x-ray was realized, eliminating its use
  as a shoe fitting device.

8
The Shoe Fitting X-ray Device
Randy Glance, CTAE Resource Network
9
The Discovery of X-ray

• Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen detected electromagnetic
  radiation in a wavelength and produced a picture
  of his wifes hand known today as the x-ray.
• Roentgen originally named his discovery the x-ray
  because it was an unknown type of radiation and
  this name has stuck.
• The photo of his wife, Anna Berthe, was the
  first x-ray and was taken on December 22, 1895.
• For his discovery, Roentgen was awarded the Noble
  Peace Prize in 1901.

10
X-ray

• Health care professionals use them to look for
  broken bones, problems in your lungs and abdomen,
  cavities in your teeth and many other problems.
• X-ray technology uses electromagnetic radiation
  to make images. The image is recorded on a film,
  called a radiograph. The parts of your body
  appear light or dark due to the different rates
  that your tissues absorb the X-rays. Calcium in
  bones absorbs X-rays the most, so bones look
  white on the radiograph. Fat and other soft
  tissues absorb less, and look gray. Air absorbs
  least, so lungs look black.
• X-ray examination is painless, fast and easy. The
  amount of radiation exposure you receive during
  an X-ray examination is small.

11
New Developments in X-ray

• X-rays are moving from film to digital files with
  both computed radiography and digital
  radiography.
• The advantage for the patient is that use of
  digital images reduces costs because there is no
  longer a need for the time and cost of processing
  film. Some believe digital files are more
  dependable storage.
• Another advantage is the use of real time images
  during surgery.
• Doctor offices and hospitals will also be able to
  do more patient exams with this new technology.

12
Computed tomography (CT) Scans

• Computed tomography (CT) is a diagnostic
  procedure that uses special X-ray equipment to
  create cross-sectional pictures of your body. CT
  images are produced using X-ray technology and
  powerful computers.
• The uses of CT include looking for
• Broken Bones
• Cancers
• Blood Clots
• Signs of Heart Disease
• Internal Bleeding

13
CT

• During a CT scan, you lie still on a table. The
  table slowly passes through the center of a large
  X-ray machine. The test is painless. During some
  tests you receive a contrast dye, which makes
  parts of your body show up better in the image.

14
Nuclear Scans

• Nuclear scanning uses radioactive substances to
  see structures and functions inside your body.
  Nuclear scans involve a special camera that
  detects energy coming from the radioactive
  substance, called a tracer. Before the test, you
  receive the tracer, often by an injection.
  Although tracers are radioactive, the dosage is
  small. During most nuclear scanning tests, you
  lie still on a scanning table while the camera
  makes images. Most scans take 20 to 45 minutes.
• Nuclear scans can help doctors diagnose many
  conditions, including cancers, injuries and
  infections. They can also show how organs like
  your heart and lungs are working.

15
Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI)

• MRIs do not use X-rays
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a large
  magnet and radio waves to look at organs and
  structures inside your body. Health care
  professionals use MRI scans to diagnose a variety
  of conditions, from torn ligaments to tumors.
  MRIs are very useful for examining the brain and
  spinal cord.
• During the scan, you lie on a table that slides
  inside a tunnel-shaped machine. The MRI scan
  takes approximately 30-60 minutes, and it is
  important for the patient to stay as still as
  possible during the exam. The scan is painless.
  The MRI machine makes a lot of noise. The
  technician may offer you earplugs.

16
MRI with Contrast

• During an MRI, the patient may be given an
  injectable contrast, or dye. This contrast
  alters the local magnetic field. Normal and
  abnormal tissue will respond differently to this
  contrast.

17
Future of MRI

• The MRI should keep seeing advances that will
  allow the clinical process to be much faster for
  the patients, and produce a highly detailed
  image.
• As MRI technology advances patients will be
  provided better treatments as doctors understand
  more and more of how the brain works.
• Further advances provide the possibility of
  taking 3-D images instead of just the MRI slices
  of the brain.

18
Ultrasound

• Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to
  look at organs and structures inside the body.
• Health care professionals use them to view the
  heart, blood vessels, kidneys, liver and other
  organs.
• During pregnancy, doctors use ultrasound tests to
  examine the fetus. Unlike x-rays, ultrasound does
  not involve exposure to radiation.

19
Ultrasound

• During an ultrasound test, a special technician
  or doctor moves a device called a transducer over
  part of your body. The transducer sends out sound
  waves, which bounce off the tissues inside your
  body. The transducer also captures the waves that
  bounce back. Images are created from these sound
  waves.

20
Future of Ultrasound

• All ultra sound is going toward real-time 3-D
• Many believe the biggest impact on healthcare for
  the ultrasound it its portability.
• Advantage to patients The portable ultrasound
  has the potential to bring the ultrasound
  directly to the patient. This ranges from the
  intensive care patient not having to move rooms
  in the hospital to allowing more access for rural
  areas and disaster sites. This would all lead to
  faster and more effective diagnoses that will
  benefit the patients greatly.

21
PET/CT

• PET/CT which not only helps doctors locate the
  lesion more accurately (CT), but also helps
  determine how active the lesion is on the
  molecular level (PET).

22
Diagnostic Imaging Trends

• Diagnostic imaging plays a critical role in
  health care, and technological advances has
  increased its role.
• New technology means a great advantage for the
  patient to have an early diagnosis.
• These noninvasive diagnostics allow doctors to
  provide the best diagnosis and treatment with
  fewer stress on the patient.

23
Impact of Technology for Patients

• In health care, the patients are the number one
  priority. The advances in diagnostic imaging
  should only improve this.
• Ultimately, the patient will benefit the most
  from these advances.

24
Diagnostic Imaging

• The future will integrate diagnostic imaging with
  health informatics and health information
  systems.