Impact Of Technology On Medical Imaging: Focus On X-ray And Ultrasound

Types of medical imaging and their uses

In recent days, technology has a great impact on the medical imaging on the x ray and ultrasound. However, there are various methods of the medical imaging. Each of the technology is used to create various types of images. Different technology is used to capture the image of different parts of body such as bones, tumors and soft tissues (Jolesz, Ferenc and Nathan McDannold). In the health care system, technology has a strong impact. Ultrasound refers to the sound waves with the frequencies, which is higher than upper audible perimeter of hearing of human. The physical properties of ultrasound are similar to others.

 Due to the medical imaging and technology, the patient care system has developed. The MIA or medical imaging and technology reduced the health care cost, which is based on the wide variety of diagnosis, preventative and treatment option. This is a less invasive and image related treatment like catheters and angioplasty. The medical imaging and technology provides more efficient and effective diagnosis via quick and fewer labors intensive of the diseased tissue, aneurysms and strokes (Son, Sejin, et al).

The paper focuses on the impact of technology on medical imaging focus on x ray and ultrasound. The assignment discusses about the types of medical imaging and their uses. Moreover, the types of technology used in the medical imaging and their uses are discussed. There are various current medical imaging trends, which is discussed with the advantages and disadvantages of the using the medical imaging technology. The discussion stated about the impact of the technology on the x-ray and ultrasound, which is the initial focus.

The molecular imaging gives the detailed information about biological processes, which take place in body. This indicates the diseases in the earliest stages. This is done at the cellular and molecular levels. This helps to know the condition of the gastrointestinal disorder, kidney disease, heart disease, thyroid and lung disease and the bone disorder (Hynynen, Kullervo, and Ryan Jones).  

X ray imaging mainly uses the x-ray beams, which is predictable on body. During passing through body or any parts of the body, the parts absorb the x ray beam. On opposite side of body, a clear image of the X ray form, this is the result of the x-ray detection (Kieffer, Fourmaux, and Krol). The imaging using x-ray includes the radiography, computed tomography, fluoroscopy, angiography and mammography.

CT mainly uses x-ray for creating the detailed images of internal body parts. These images are mainly three-dimensional and look like the slices of a loaf. Mainly the radiologists decide if they need to contrast any material like injecting injections or oral medication before the CT. However, Shung suggested that the CT helps on producing different types of images of all type of body parts. As the images are captured in high resolution, therefore, it helps to know about the detailed information about the specific body part. Eloot, Liesbeth, et al mentioned that the computed tomography provides better result in comparison to the conventional radiography.

Some types of the medical imaging function without the ionizing radiation like the ultrasound imaging and magnetic resonance imaging. This has the particular uses in diagnosis of the diseases.

Types of X-ray technology used in medical imaging and their uses

It is one of the imaging techniques, which uses the electromagnetic radiation. This is clearer type of x ray than the normal x ray. This helps to get a clear image of the non- uniformly composed structure (Clark, Sheldon, et al).

The full form of MRI is the magnetic resonance imaging. This is one of the medical imaging techniques. This help to create image of the anatomy of the body and identify the health disease.

Nuclear medicine refers to the medical specialty, which involves the radioactive substance application in diagnosis as well as the treatment. The nuclear medicine is the radiology, which is done as the ‘endoradiology’ to record the radiation imitation (Lorusso, Arianna, et al). This is done within the rather than using the external rays.

This is another type of technology that is used for the ultrasonography. This is mainly used to check the condition of the baby in the mother womb. The ultra sound has ultrasonic frequency, which is used in the medical imaging. Ultrasound imaging is mainly used in the medicine and helps in the nondestructive tests.

Elastography refers to the medical imaging modality, which maps elastic properties of the soft tissues.

Tactile imaging refers to the mechanical imaging, which is the medical imaging modality (Nandi, Dibyadeep, et al). This translates the touching sense into digital image.

Phtoacoustic imaging refers to the non-invasive imaging. This allows the molecular, structural and functional imaging. The method depends upon the photo acoustic effects. This describes the conversion in between acoustic waves and light.  

In this type of technology, thermograms are used to study the heat distribution in the regions or the structures. This is mainly used to detect the tumors.

Fluoroscopy is one type medical imaging, which produce the continuous x-ray image of internal structure of the patient on monitor.

In medical field, integration of technology has shown increased rate since the last decade. With more advancement in medical and technological research and integration of innovative technologies in health care and medical services, the trends of this technological usage are also changing. Thus, it is important to review the trends of medical imaging, while demonstrating the impact of technology on medical imaging. The current trends are as follows:

Digital breast tomosynthesis is a common topic in trade publications since last few years. Its popularity is being increased, as more studies are publishing its success in finding lesions and reducing recall rates. During 2014, DBT was considered as one of the most important health advances (Van Dijck and Jose). On the other hand, during 2015, CMS established two new codes for performing DBT with 2D digital mammography.

While text-only reports are becoming less important, a survey found 80 % respondents are supporting MERR to get better understanding radiology findings through correlating images to text reports (Hricak et al.). In addition to improved quality radiology reports, it also provides more financial value to radiologists.

In addition to radiology, the other health care sector is adopting cloud, which is happening rapidly. Research suggested that instead of its initial variable cost; increased process efficiency, financial predictability of paying according to organizational needs and long term cost savings are making the technologies crucial for organizational management (Van Dijck and Jose).  

Current medical imaging trends

Centralization of clinical data is required for collaborating all the health facilities. In this context, vendor neutral archives or VNAs are evolving with its role beyond the radiology sector, which is providing the opportunity for embedding intelligent lifecycle management and meta-data management for optimizing the efficiency of multiple archives, making clinical data available and useable for providing advanced patient care (Van Dijck and Jose).

Telemedicine is a key trend in health care; during 2015, significant growth of this technology was noted. In 2016, the predicted telemedicine market is $27 billion, with 60 % in virtual health services. Moreover, till 2018, it is assumed that two-third of health care communication would be done through telemedicine (Hricak et al.). With this technology, the communication with rural service users has significantly improved.

X-ray is a key process of medical diagnosis. It is one of the key tools in medical imaging, which helps to improve the diagnosis and treatment of numerous medical conditions in patients. Radiography is a conventional X-ray method along with advanced mammography, which helps to identify the internal structures in breasts (Cnudde et al.). On the other hand, CT scan include several X-ray images and provide a more detailed cross-sectional images or slices of internal tissues or organs, helping better understanding of  the position of internal structures. The advancement of X-ray imaging promoted the quality of diagnosis in health care, thereby reducing the rate of misdiagnosis.

The technology helps in diagnosing diseases in painless method, provide diagnostic support to surgical and medical care planning, along with the provision of guide to professionals, while inserting medical devices inside the body to track, detect or remove tumors, blood clots or blockage. Besides the positive impacts of X-ray imaging, it also consists risks. For instance, increased intensity of the ray can increase the risk of developing cancer in later life. Other adverse effects include skin reddening, cataracts and hair loss (Wildenschild et al.). On the other hand, X-rays can react with intravenously administered drug. Thus, to reduce the risks and enhance the benefits, patients’ factors are needed to be considered prior recommending an X-ray. For instance, pregnant women and younger patients should be specially taken care, as they are more sensitive to the exposure of X-rays and its related damage. The electromagnetic radiation, x ray has the wavelength that is ranged from 0.0-10 nM. X ray has various types, which is discussed. X ray helps to detect various problems in the human body. For example, if there is problem in the bone then x ray passes through the bone, which measures the bone density and detect the problem.

The ultrasound technology helps in the prenatal diagnosis. This will help to check the condition of the pregnancy stage as well as the condition of the baby. The ultrasound technology influences the relationship of the mother and baby, as the mother can see the movement of the baby. The ultrasound technology provides various benefits on the medical science. However, the ultrasound technology can affect the fetal bodies. In a report, it is seen that the mothers who has gone through the ultrasonography in every month of pregnancy, gave low weight baby birth. Li, Xiang, et al opined that in some cases, use of ultrasound in larger amount can cause of damage in the human body and the unborn fetus as well. Ultrasound can damage the soft tissues and may cause of cancer in rare cases.

However, the ultrasound has some positive impacts as well as the negative impacts. Ultrasound is used medical, military, industries and pharmaceutical industry. By using the ultrasound technology, ultrasonic energy is produced, which helps in the industrial purpose. Moreover, the ultrasound helps to provide the detailed information of the pregnancy. It helps to check the complications of the pregnancy. The ultrasound helps in detection of the health issues in the internal body parts like gastronomy disease (Lee et al). This helps to visualize the muscles, internal organs, tendons, pathological condition of organs. However, the ultrasound does not use the radiation that is a positive point of ultrasound. Therefore, the levels of harms are less in analyzing the health issues. The upper frequency limit of ultrasound is 20 kHz, which is due to limitation of the middle ear of human. However, children have the power of listening high-pitched sounds, which the adults cannot hear. The ultrasound helps to detect the problem area in the body and provide a clear image of the area.

During caring the children, parents and patients, doctors most of the time suggest to do the medical imaging to understand the condition of the major health issues. However, the medical imaging helps the patients and doctors to know the condition of the health.  The various medical imaging technologies help in the diagnosis of the illness and the severity of benign (Silverman, Ronald). This helps to check the nature and condition of the benign as well as the process and speed of the spreading. This helps in invasive diagnostic process and procedure like angiography, exploratory surgery and cardiac catheterization. This may not be necessary. If a child has a choric disease, for example cancer or tumor then the medical imaging technologies help in detecting the disease. Radiation technology will not only help in detecting the initial problems but also helps in treatment (Bahner, David et al). In case of cancer, radiation plays major role in the recovery of the patient. In case of cancer, the radiation is used as the chemotherapy that is useful to reduce the signs and symptoms of cancer.  

However, the doctors need to be more careful before using the medical imaging technologies as over dose can be dangerous for the patient. The medical imaging technologies help to locate the problem area of a disease. For example, if a patient suffers from gastric pain, medical imaging technologies can help to provide the exact reason of pain. Moreover, the medical imaging technologies improve the medical science that helps people to lead a wellbeing and healthy lifestyle (Fulgham, Pat Fox, et al). However, the technologies are very sensitive and can harm the soft tissues. Therefore, it is necessary to know the proper technique to handle the medical imaging technologies so that it can be used safely.

With the various advantages, the medical imaging technologies have various disadvantages. Many medical imaging technologies harm the internal structure of body. The main disadvantage of using the medical imaging technologies is that the technologies are very expensive, which most of the people do not want to use. The ultrasound can damage the lifespan of the fetus. Sometime the ultrasound affects the brain of the fetus. This may cause of abortion. In critical cases the cheap medical imaging technologies cannot provide the good quality of result, therefore the doctors suggest using the expensive and high quality medical imaging technologies that common people cannot afford (Jolesz, Ferenc and Nathan McDannold). In case of cancer therapy, the radioactivity damages the not affected cells as well as the affected cells. Moreover, in case of normal x-ray, the x ray beam can create cavity in the bones, if the radiation level is higher than the tolerance power. This is a bad impact of using the medical imaging technologies. The ultrasound technology can damage the cells of the ovary, which may cause of miscarriage or infertile.

Magnetic resonance imaging is another technology that predominate the in human body and works against the hydrogen to create image. If the human body is exposed to the X ray for long period then the permanent damage of tissue may happen. The radiation may cause of burn of tissues and can be fatal for the human being (Kieffer, Fourmaux, and Krol). In case of using the medical imaging technologies for the purpose of treatment of the children, the doctors need to be more careful. The effects of the medical imaging technologies are more dangerous in the children. The dosage, which is adequate for the adults, is fetal for the children.

Conclusion

Based on the above discussion, it can be concluded that in the health care system, technology has a strong impact. The medical imaging technology increased the range of the care via the hand carried image machinery. Various types of technology used in medical imaging are MRI, CT, X-ray and molecular imaging. The ultrasound helps in detection of the health issues in the internal body parts like gastronomy disease. Moreover, the ultrasound is used in pregnancy test that strengthens the relationship in between the mother and fetus.  The ultrasound technology influences the relationship of the mother and baby, as the mother can see the movement of the baby. Use of ultrasound in larger amount can cause of damage in the human body and the unborn fetus as well. Ultrasound can damage the soft tissues and may cause of cancer in rare cases. Medical imaging technologies have various advantages and disadvantages. The doctors need to the usage and dosage of those technologies that will not harm the patients. By using the ultrasound technology, ultrasonic energy is produced, which helps in the industrial purpose. Moreover, in case of normal x-ray, the x ray beam can create cavity in the bones, if the radiation level is higher than the tolerance power. Use of ultrasound in larger amount can cause of damage in the human body and the unborn fetus as well. Ultrasound can damage the soft tissues and may cause of cancer in rare cases. it is necessary to know the proper technique to handle the medical imaging technologies so that it can be used safely. The medical imaging and technology provides more efficient and effective diagnosis via quick and fewer labors intensive of the diseased tissue, aneurysms and strokes.

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