Vim & Vigor - Summer 2012 - Parrish Medical Center - (Page 19)

T Radiology photography by getty images, Corbis he inside of a hospital seems almost familiar when you have seen it dozens of times from the inside of your living room. With the popularity of medical dramas, TV gives us regular exposure to the world of medical treatment and testing. But how close is what we see to reality? “There must be an unwritten rule [of television] that if you put up a chest X-ray, make sure it’s up backwards,” says David M. Hovsepian, M.D., editor of RSNA News, a publication of the Radiological Society of North America. Aside from those kinds of blatant mistakes, “TV tends to abbreviate most medical procedures and emphasize the dramatic elements,” Hovsepian says. A three-hour test takes a minute or two, and TV doctors have the luxury of spending hours with a single patient who has an unusual illness. So, you might not want to take everything you see on the screen at face value. But being more familiar with medical terminology can dial down the intimidation factor when it’s your turn to be the patient. These days, a lot of diagnosis is done with the help of imaging tests. When people come to the hospital with a problem, “almost everybody winds up in the radiology department at some point to figure out what’s going on,” Hovsepian says. “Radiologists are really medical detectives.” To help you know what to expect—or fact-check your favorite medical show—here’s a glossary of terms: The medical specialty that diagnoses and treats disease using imaging tools including X-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound and nuclear medicine. Diagnostic radiology: Uses imaging tests to answer questions about what is going on in the body. “Imaging has gotten so good, you no longer need to open somebody up [surgically] to figure out what’s going on,” Hovsepian says. Interventional radiology: Uses imaging-guided procedures to perform medical intervention less invasively. “These procedures can replace more invasive, open surgeries, saving tissue damage, eliminating the need for general anesthesia and shortening recovery time,” says J.S. Benseler, D.O., author of The Radiology Handbook: A Pocket Guide to Medical Imaging. X-Ray The oldest and most commonly used imaging test. Creates an image by passing radiation through the body, where the energy is absorbed at different rates based on tissue density. Bones absorb the most energy and show up in white; soft tissue is gray; and air, which absorbs no energy, looks black. By Teresa Caldwell Board 19 Vim & Vigor • Sum mer 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Summer 2012 - Parrish Medical Center

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2012 - Parrish Medical Center
Contents
Opening Thoughts
Community Calendar
A Life Saved at the Fitness Center
Addressing Hidden Complications
The Breakfast Club
Arthritis Answers
A TV Guide to Radiology
Take Aim
It Might NOT Be Cancer
Colin Firth
Step Up to the Plate
Life After Cancer
Get Dad to the Doc
Virtual Health
Community Health
Third Lease on Life
Commissioned to Greatness
Foundation Focus
Ask the Expert

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2012 - Parrish Medical Center