READING YOUR X-RAYS
How would you like to be a radiologist? Not for a moment
am I suggesting I can give you a medical school course in one
chapter, but I want to emphasize that there are many things you
can learn from your X-ray that don’t need great expertise to un-
derstand!
X-rays, computerized tomography (CT or “cat”) scans,
magnetic resonance images (MRIs), and ultrasounds all come as
“negatives” to begin with. For this book those negatives were
printed. A print reverses the light and dark areas. For instance,
bones on negatives appear light, but on prints appear dark.
I am assuming you can obtain your negatives to take home.
Because they are precious, your doctor is justifiably reluctant to
give them to you, even on loan. Some radiologists are equipped
to make duplicates. Ask your doctor to refer you to one.
Tape your negatives to a window that lets in bright light to
give you good visibility. Get your bearings first: top, bottom,
left, right. Some scans include a diagram to show you where in
the body the pictures were taken. If you have numerous nega-
tives choose a few that show the problem most clearly; they
may have already been marked by the radiologist. Use these
markings to help you understand your problem. Most problems
are easy to recognize if
they are large. Small prob-
lems should be pointed out
to you by your health pro-
vider. It is not necessary to
learn the names of ana-
tomical parts to recognize
that they are not normal!