Chest X-Ray

Medical Author: Siamak Nabili, MD, MPH
Medical Editor: William C. Shiel, Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

• What is a chest X-ray?
• What is a shadow on a chest X-ray?
• How is the chest X-ray procedure performed?
• How do doctors interpret chest X-rays?
• Where are chest X-ray's performed?
• What are the risks of a chest X-ray?
• What are reasons for ordering chest X-rays?
• Who can interpret chest X-rays?
• What can be seen on normal chest X-ray?
• What are some common chest X-ray abnormalities?
• Chest X-Ray At A Glance

What is a chest X-ray?

A chest X-ray is a radiology test that involves exposing the chest briefly to radiation to produce an image of the chest and the internal organs of the chest. An X-ray film is positioned against the body opposite the camera, which sends out a very small dose of a radiation beam. As the radiation penetrates the body, it is absorbed in varying amounts by different body tissues depending on the tissue's composition of air, water, blood, bone, or muscle. Bones, for example, absorb much of the X-ray radiation while lung tissue (which is filled with mostly air) absorbs very little, allowing most of the X-ray beam to pass through the lung.

What is a shadow on a chest X-ray?

Due to the differences in their composition (and, therefore, varying degrees of penetration of the X-ray beam), the lungs, heart, aorta, and bones of the chest each can be distinctly visualized on the chest X-ray. The X-ray film records these differences to produce an image of body tissue structures and these are shadows seen on the X-ray. The white shadows on chest X-ray represent more dense or solid tissues, such as bone or heart, and the darker shadows on the chest X-ray represent air filled tissues, such as lungs.

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