X-Ray Imaging Services Clinic Q&A

X-rays use electromagnetic waves to create images of the inside of your body, illuminating bones, soft tissues, and organs in varying shades of black and white to detect or monitor various illnesses and injuries. As such, X-ray imaging is used for a wide variety of different diagnostic and health monitoring purposes.

The most common use of X-ray imaging is to check for broken bones and fractures. With that being said, X-ray imaging can also be used to detect and monitor various tumors and abnormal growths, pneumonia using chest X-rays, breast calcifications, foreign objects, and dental problems, scoliosis, swallowing problems (dysphagia), and heart failure, among other uses.

X-ray imaging is also used in combination with computer processing in computerized tomography (CT) scans, fluoroscopy to help guide specific procedures, radiation therapy for cancer treatment, and mammograms to detect breast cancer.

X-ray imaging is able to illuminate the inside of a patient’s body by positioning the part of the patient’s body that is being imaged between an X-ray source and an X-ray detector. The electromagnetic waves then travel through the body and are absorbed to different degrees by your body’s bones and soft tissues, depending on the density and the atomic number of the tissues. The more electromagnetic waves that are absorbed by the tissue, the clearer the tissue will show up in an X-ray image. For instance, since bones contain a large amount of calcium, which has a high atomic number and thus absorbs more electromagnetic waves, they show up more clearly in an x-ray image than other tissues. Softer tissues show up in a shade of grey, while bones appear in a shade of white.

While X-rays are a type of imaging scan, there are other types of imaging that are different from X-ray imaging, such as a computerized tomography scan and medical resonance imaging (MRI). While CT scans combine X-ray technology with computer processing to create images, MRI scans do not. With that in mind, medical imaging does not always refer to X-ray imaging.

In contrast to X-ray scans, MRI scans use powerful magnets to send radio waves through the body. In response, protons react to the radio waves, allowing the MRI scan to create highly detailed images of the soft tissues, nerves, and blood vessels in the body. An MRI scan is typically more expensive than an X-ray or CT scan.

X-ray imaging and radiography are often used interchangeably in medical circles. However, while they are closely related, they are not the exact same thing. The primary difference between an X-ray and a radiograph is that an X-ray refers to the radiation process used to create the X-ray image, while a radiograph refers to the actual image produced by the X-ray.

If you would like more information about our X-ray imaging services at Urgent Care & Wellness Center in Lutz, FL, or want to schedule an X-ray imaging appointment with us, we would love to hear from you! Please feel welcome to contact us or to schedule an appointment with us through our website. We serve patients from Lutz FL, New Port Richey FL, Land O’ Lakes FL, Cheval FL, Greater Northdale FL, Greater Carrollwood FL, River Ridge FL, Seven Springs FL, Port Richey FL, Bayonet Point FL, Hudson FL, and Elfers FL.