“How does a chest x-ray show pneumonia?”
I am a 22 year old male. I want to know how does a chest x-ray show pneumonia?
4 Answers
Pneumonia causes influx of inflammatory fluids which is a different radiographic density than air, so it can be detected.
Xray basically detects 5 things:
1. air
2. fat
3. water (water, blood, pus or other body fluids)
4. bone
5. metal (and other man made stuff)
With your lungs being 99% air, they do not attenuate the X-ray beam and look normally mostly black. When pneumonia is present, it's basically water density....if there's an abnormality, then your clinical doctor will take your specific condition into account with other data.....
Thanks and all the best.
1. air
2. fat
3. water (water, blood, pus or other body fluids)
4. bone
5. metal (and other man made stuff)
With your lungs being 99% air, they do not attenuate the X-ray beam and look normally mostly black. When pneumonia is present, it's basically water density....if there's an abnormality, then your clinical doctor will take your specific condition into account with other data.....
Thanks and all the best.
Normal lungs are darker because of air in the lungs. Inflammation makes the lungs appear more light or whiter because the infection is associated with purulent debris replacing the aerated normal lung.
It shows up as a spot on the lungs.
