X-ray medical imaging. Equipment and modalities

This article looks at the medical uses of X-ray imaging. It describes the main modalities (radiography, mammography, angiography, etc.) and the radiology equipment offered by the medical imaging industry. The aim is not to go into the details of medical protocols, as the author is neither a radiologist, nor a surgeon, nor a doctor, but to provide simple descriptions to arouse the curiosity of engineers and technicians practicing X-ray imaging and wondering about the aims of their activity. In addition, the same Techniques de l'Ingénieur collection will include articles dedicated to the main modalities, providing a complete overview of the imaging techniques used, whether X-ray or other (ultrasound, MRI, PET, etc.).

Following an introduction to the medical purposes of X-ray medical imaging, and an overview of the systems and networks into which the equipment fits (PACS, etc.), the various families of modalities are described one by one, starting with those oriented towards screening and diagnosis (radiography, gastrointestinal, mammography, urology and dental), and ending with the use of imaging in surgical and interventional modalities (orthopedics, cholangiography, vascular, cardiac and radiotherapy). Aimed primarily at engineers and technicians, this article presents the main families of equipment and, for each, the imaging modalities mainly associated with them.