What do x rays do to your body

Calcium in bones absorbs x-rays the most, so bones look white. Fat and other soft tissues absorb less and look gray. Air absorbs the least, so lungs look black. The most familiar use of x-rays is checking for fractures broken bones , but x-rays are also used in other ways. For example, chest x-rays can spot pneumonia. Mammograms use x-rays to look for breast cancer. When you have an x-ray, you may wear a lead apron to protect certain parts of your body.

You will be positioned in front of the x-ray machine. You will be asked to hold your breath before each picture. Pictures may be taken from different views e. X-rays expose you to a small amount of radiation — about the amount you get from a cross-country flight.

The amount of radiation in an X-ray is too small to cause you any harm. Radiation in large doses can cause cancer and birth defects. Nuclear medicine and PET scans use a small amount of radioactive material. This is either injected into you, or you breathe it in or swallow it. A special camera is then used which detects the energy from the radioactive material in your body. Ionising radiation may cause damage to the cells in your body.

This is usually very minor and does not cause any serious damage, however, large doses may cause the cells to become cancerous. A very low dose x-ray, such as a chest x-ray, has a tiny risk. CT scans, which use higher doses of x-rays, have a higher risk, although it is still a very small risk.

Your doctor is aware of the risks and benefits of x-rays, CT scans and nuclear medicine scans and should always balance the possible benefits of you having the test with the small risk. It is always appropriate for you to have the x-ray or scan if it benefits you.

Finding out if you have something wrong with you and the best way to treat it outweighs the very small risk of the scan. The amount of radioactive material used for nuclear medicine scans and PET scans is very small, however, the radiation can sometimes take as long as a few days to pass out of your body.

One type of x-ray detector is photographic film, but there are many other types of detectors that are used to produce digital images. The x-ray images that result from this process are called radiographs. To create a radiograph, a patient is positioned so that the part of the body being imaged is located between an x-ray source and an x-ray detector.

When the machine is turned on, x-rays travel through the body and are absorbed in different amounts by different tissues, depending on the radiological density of the tissues they pass through.

For example, structures such as bone contain calcium, which has a higher atomic number than most tissues. Because of this property, bones readily absorb x-rays and, thus, produce high contrast on the x-ray detector. As a result, bony structures appear whiter than other tissues against the black background of a radiograph.

Conversely, x-rays travel more easily through less radiologically dense tissues such as fat and muscle, as well as through air-filled cavities such as the lungs. These structures are displayed in shades of gray on a radiograph.

Listed below are examples of examinations and procedures that use x-ray technology to either diagnose or treat disease:. X-ray radiography: Detects bone fractures, certain tumors and other abnormal masses, pneumonia, some types of injuries, calcifications, foreign objects, dental problems, etc. Mammography : A radiograph of the breast that is used for cancer detection and diagnosis.