Chest radiography

Chest radiography uses X-rays to create images of the lungs, heart, airways, blood vessels, bones, and other structures in the chest.

X-ray: A form of electromagnetic radiation with enough energy to pass through many materials and produce images. Chest radiography uses X-rays because different chest tissues absorb them by different amounts.
Pneumonia: An infection that inflames air sacs in one or both lungs. Air-space opacities can support diagnosis, while an early or subtle infection may be invisible.
Chest computed tomography: Cross-sectional imaging of the chest produced from multiple X-ray measurements. CT resolves structures hidden by overlap on a projectional chest radiograph.
Ionizing radiation: Radiation energetic enough to remove electrons from atoms and molecules. X-rays are ionizing radiation, so examinations use exposure levels appropriate to the clinical question.
Projectional radiography: Imaging that records the combined attenuation of X-rays along paths through the body. A chest radiograph compresses three-dimensional anatomy into a two-dimensional projection.
Pneumothorax: Air in the pleural space that can partially or completely collapse a lung. A chest radiograph can reveal the pleural line and assess the extent of collapse.
Chest magnetic resonance imaging: Imaging of chest structures using magnetic fields and radiofrequency signals. MRI avoids ionizing radiation but is less commonly used for routine lung imaging.
Radiation dose: A measure of energy from ionizing radiation deposited in matter or biological tissue. Dose varies with equipment, patient size, projection, and technique.
Radiographic contrast: Differences in image brightness produced by different degrees of X-ray attenuation. Air, soft tissue, bone, and metal create the image's characteristic range of shades.
Pleural effusion: An abnormal accumulation of fluid in the space between the lungs and chest wall. Fluid often blunts the costophrenic angle or layers on an upright chest image.

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