| Many of us are familiar with the most common type | | | | medical equipment is especially useful for identifying |
| of medical imaging equipment, X-rays, but did you | | | | soft tissue problems, such as those in the joints or the |
| know that there are many different types of imaging | | | | brain, because X-Rays work more specifically for |
| machines that help doctors diagnose health issues? | | | | harder tissues like bone. |
| The advances in medical imaging equipment are | | | | Another medical imaging machine you may have |
| amazing, and an example of some machines you | | | | heard of are ultrasounds, especially for pregnant |
| might not know as much about are electron | | | | women looking at their unborn babies. It is have very |
| microscopes, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI's), | | | | broad uses in medicine however, including imaging the |
| ultrasounds. | | | | abdomen, heart, breast, muscles, tendons, arteries and |
| Electron microscopes are a great tool for physicians | | | | veins. How does it work and what do doctors use it |
| and clinicians to get a better sense of what's going on | | | | for? Medical ultrasound instruments use high frequency |
| at the basest level. Because electron microscopes can | | | | broadband sound waves in varying degress in the |
| magnify at a level of 2,000,000 times, they are used in | | | | megahertz range to produce 3-dimensional images. |
| anatomic pathology, which identifies orgnalles within a | | | | These ultrasound images do not have the anatomical |
| patient's cells. Although immunhistochemistry, a new | | | | detail of images produced by an MRI machine, it is |
| method has taken some of the focus off of electron | | | | widely used because it is appears to not have any |
| microscopy, this essential medical imaging equipment is | | | | adverse side effects and is safe to use. Ultrasounds |
| irreplaceable for the identification of immotile cilia | | | | are also relatively inexpensive as opposed to catscans |
| syndrome, the diagnosis of kidney disease, and many | | | | or MRI's, so they continue to be a staple in medical |
| other things. | | | | offices and hospitals. |
| Most of us have heard of MRI's, but what are they | | | | These are just three examples of the medical imaging |
| exactly? Simply explained, a magnetic resonance | | | | equipment available today. Technology continues to |
| imaging scanner uses the power of magnets to | | | | advance and there are sure to be many more exciting |
| polarize and excite the hydrogen nuclei in water | | | | developments to come in the world of medical |
| molecules that are present in all human tissues, and this | | | | equipment and supplies, and you can expect the level |
| then produces a detectable signal which can be | | | | of healthcare to commensurately increase. |
| interpreted to create images of the body. This type of | | | | |