If you’ve ever broken a bone or gotten your teeth x-rayed at the dentist, you’ve probably wondered who the person is behind that huge machine, and it’s not the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This person is called a radiologic technologist, and he is in charge of using x-ray, ultrasound, MRI and other types of high-tech machines in order to see inside the human body.  They work in the field of radiologic technology, which is the study of pictures taken of internal body parts. These pictures provide the doctor with a diagnosis of what could be wrong with the patient, such as a fracture, break, or an object lodged in a place where it doesn’t belong.

Radiologic technologists work under the strict order of physicians in order to determine which part of the body to take pictures of.  For different parts of the body, these technologists must use different machines in order to generate the best pictures. For example, for scans of the breast to screen for breast cancer, mammography machines are used. They must position the machine at just the right angle in order to capture the body part in the best way.

In addition to actually taking the x-rays, these technologists are in charge of positioning the patient in such a way for the proper body parts to be captured. They also explain the procedure to the patients and help them to remove any jewelry that the radiation will not pass through, such as necklaces or earrings.

Due to the high amounts of dangerous radiation that they are exposed to on a daily basis, they must wear protective apparel to minimize the amount of radiation that they absorb. They also must adorn their patients in protective apparel prior to the procedure taking place. This protective gear may include goggles or radiation-protecting coats or blankets.

A radiologic technologist may choose to specialize in a specific type of radiation machine, such as CT (computer tomography) or MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans. CT specialists take x-rays of cross-sections of the body that create 3D imaging, as do MRI specialists. The difference is in the type of machine; MRI machines use a non-ionizing radio frequency to create the image of the body part.

These technologists use different types of machines to generate images of a patient’s internal body parts. These images are analyzed by physicians in order to come up with a diagnosis of the patient’s ailment, which results in coming up with a treatment plan for the patient.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 9th, 2012 at 6:35 pm and is filed under Radiologic Technologist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.