It is hard to believe that a little over a century ago, people did not hear about such an ordinary procedure as x-rays. The use of x-rays for medical purposes began almost immediately after their discovery. Such a study is based on their features to weaken, passing through the tissues of the body, and be reflected in the form of the outline of the examined organ on the surface of the future image.
Nowadays, this is one of the most reliable and common methods in the medical environment to confirm such serious diagnoses as tuberculosis or pneumonia. Of course, the functionality of x-rays is not limited to the diagnosis of these diseases. After all, practically any human organ can be enlightened with their help.
How it's done?
For the subject, this procedure does not represent any difficulty. In the radiography room, as a rule, the patient is asked to wear a special lead apron as a protection, covering the whole body and leaving a gap only in the area that needs to be examined. To undergo the procedure, the patient should strip to the waist and get rid of all metal - jewelry, hairpins, pins.
Then the patient stands on a special platform and, on command, presses against the metal plate with his chest, and with his chin to the stand designed for this in the body of the device. After that, the examining employee is removed behind the protective screen and gives the command to inhale and hold his breath for a while.
This is done so that the chest at the time of the picture is the maximum width, and the gaps are open. In this position, the snapshot is easiest to examine and identify problems. How is an X-ray of the baby’s lungs done, the photo below illustrates quite clearly. It shows what position the small patient occupies in front of the device and what is the role of the parent in this case
Where can a baby X-ray be taken?
Such studies are carried out by medical institutions that have a qualified specialist with access to this type of work, an equipped office with an apparatus equipped with the necessary documentation, and, of course, permission for this type of activity.
Most often, such rooms are equipped in clinics, emergency rooms or specialized TB facilities. According to sanitary standards, X-ray equipment should be placed in a building that is standing separately. It is not allowed to arrange such an office in residential buildings, the first floor of which is given to a medical institution.
Who is allowed to carry out this procedure? In order to have access to an X-ray examination, a specialist must have a completed education in the field of medicine at a level not lower than medical, in addition to undergo special training. This work is among the harmful, so the staff of X-ray rooms have the appropriate category and preferential length of service.
Parental doubts
When parents are told that their child is being given an X-ray, many questions immediately arise. The main ones: how exactly is this type of research necessary? Is there an alternative? What kind of variant are you talking about - fluorography, x-ray or computed tomography? What should I do if the results obtained in the picture do not satisfy the doctors? Can children do x-rays of the lungs repeatedly with a small gap?
The last item should immediately determine: do not agree to a second procedure! Take the available results and take them to another doctor.
X-rays of children are prescribed, as a rule, rarely, only for important reasons. But sometimes there is no other way to confirm or refute a certain disease. The most informative and at the same time sparing of the types of x-ray studies is computed tomography. But this procedure is not too easy and requires a long stay in a fixed position, which is sometimes impossible for the baby.
What is worse?
An X-ray of the lungs for children is considered to be slightly more harmful compared to tomography, but the procedure itself takes much less time and is prescribed even for newborns. Since the slightest movement during the process of taking a picture can ruin the result, parents of the smallest patients are invited to attend the procedure and hold the baby motionless for the entire short time.
In this case, the body of the parent, as well as the rest of the body of the baby (except the test), must be protected by a protective lead screen.
The most severe and hazardous to health is fluorography, which children are strictly forbidden to do. It is used starting from the age of at least 16-18 years.
A few words about adults
Healthy people do not need a lung X-ray procedure, but according to existing sanitary standards, the entire adult population is required to undergo a routine fluorographic study once a year with a mark on the outpatient card and in the health book. Mass inspections of employees exist at many enterprises.
Some argue whether it is possible to detect the presence of such a bad habit as smoking using fluorography or X-rays of the lungs. Unfortunately not. It is possible to determine this only with the help of computed tomography, and then only when serious negative changes have begun in the lungs of a smoker with many years of experience.
Can I make this procedure pregnant? No, an x-ray is categorically contraindicated for them because of the very high risk of mutation in the fetus.
What then?
What happens after the procedure? The next stage is the study by the specialist employee of the resulting image and its description. The qualification of a medical professional in this case is very, very important. His task is not to miss the slightest detail in the picture.
How to determine, for example, lung cancer? To confirm this diagnosis, computed tomography or radiography is used. But if there are no other expressed symptoms of this dangerous disease, most often lung cancer is detected in a fluorographic picture. It looks like a round spot and visually resembles a coin.
The presence of pneumonia is indicated by a clearly distinguishable darkened area in the picture of the lungs, according to which the doctor determines the localization and stage of the disease. If we talk about tuberculosis, then its initial signs are detected during the annual fluorographic examination (in adults). If there is suspicion, the patient is sent to an x-ray, which has much greater effectiveness.
If the patient has bronchitis, an x-ray shows a thickening of the bronchial walls, an enhanced pulmonary pattern, and blurred edges of the roots of the lungs. Inflammation, like pneumonia, has the appearance of a clearly defined dark spot in the picture. Signs of emphysema are similar to those with bronchitis, but are even more pronounced.
About the results
Having decrypted the image, the specialist writes down the results — his findings in the patient’s card and in the referral form. This entry is an official confirmation or refutation of the diagnosis. In this case, the use of the term "dimming" refers to the presence of a dark spot in a lighter area of the lung image. But sometimes this also applies to spots that are lighter in comparison with the surrounding background.
If we are talking about healthy lungs, a homogeneous structure, a clear, even pattern and the absence of any spots with blackouts are indicated.
X-ray of a child - how often?
The vast majority of parents ask the same questions. How often can a baby have an X-ray of the lungs? How harmful is the examination? What is the total dose of radiation during the year should and can be considered safe?
X-rays affecting the body during this procedure are radioactive. With radiation, in serious amounts obtained by the cells, a mutation called radiation sickness, and, as a result, various tumors, is possible.
But the rays emitted by the x-ray machine carry an extremely low dose of such radiation. You can compare it with the dose received in a large city with a dense population and an average background radiation level over several days.
On the appropriateness of appointments
A one-time x-ray of the head, hip joints or chest refers to ordinary medical examinations and is considered not to cause any specific harm to the child. Nevertheless, such studies are prescribed by doctors only in case of serious danger or impossibility in their absence of a correct diagnosis.
So, a course of antibiotics prescribed for suspected pneumonia, without sufficient reason, can be much more harmful than a preliminary lung x-ray. For children, the need for such an appointment must be established accurately. Medical practice includes many cases when microdoses of radiation received by a baby are much more harmless to his health than the consequences of a categorical refusal to conduct an x-ray. After all, he is able to detect a fracture of bones, their correct or incorrect growth, a foreign body in the stomach, and the like.
We all get a certain dose of radiation from air, food and water. And also at airports during the passage of introscopes and during air flights.
When and how much?
How much x-ray is considered safe? First of all, it should be borne in mind that each area has its own radiation background. It depends on the environmental situation, the presence or absence of rocks, altitude.
According to the WHO, an X-ray picture of a child is prescribed only if there is no possibility of a correct diagnosis without it. Most often, we are talking about injuries and bruises of the skull, jaw, problems with the hip joints. If no more than 5-6 such procedures are carried out during the year, the radiation background of the child’s body does not threaten and negative consequences can be neglected.
According to statistics, such a norm is exceeded extremely rarely, except for cases of serious injuries, in which the need for an x-ray occurs much more often. It is very important on which device the picture is taken. Modern technology allows you to minimize the influence of X-rays on the child's body, while achieving the most accurate image.
That is why parents who have received a referral for an x-ray of the lungs of the child, where to do it, should think carefully. You should choose an institution with the most modern medical equipment, especially if the total previously received dose of radiation is already quite large.
Talk about the smallest
One of the most pressing parental questions: Do children get an X-ray of the lungs in their first year of life, and if not, at what age? And how often are such studies possible?
Sometimes an infant needs an x-ray immediately after birth - in case of deformation of the bones of the skull or dislocation of the hip joints when moving along the birth canal. In such situations, the picture is taken in the very first days after birth. During the procedure, the children are protected by laying in a special chamber and covering the rest of the body from irradiation, except for the test area.
In what cases is a lung x-ray for children necessary? The doctor will certainly prescribe a picture of the chest, suspecting pneumonia, in case of fracture of the ribs or problems with the spinal column. For prevention, this procedure is not used. The method of detecting tuberculosis in children is the Mantoux test, and only with a constant increase in it, the doctor prescribes an additional lung examination.
Sometimes a child needs a picture of teeth in cases of dental problems. If there is a suspicion that the foreign body is swallowed by the baby, an abdominal examination is prescribed.