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The Plain Chest Radiograph in the Assessment of Cardiac Disease

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Integrating Cardiology for Nuclear Medicine Physicians
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Abstract

Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays on 8 November 1895, and was the first to take a radiograph on 22 December 1895 of his wife’s fingers [1]. Roentgen labelled the unknown ray X, and hence the term X-ray was coined. Soon after this the chest radiograph was used and this has become a first line investigation in patients with suspected heart disease. An appreciation of the technique and anatomy, as well as common variants, is vital to the correct interpretation of the chest radiograph. The technique of chest radiography will be described, together with details of the chest radiograph adequacy. Following a description of the normal anatomy and potential pitfalls in interpretation due to normal variants, the clinical applications of the chest radiograph in the assessment of cardiac disease is discussed. Finally, a short discussion on the future trends in chest radiography is given.

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Mulholland, N. (2009). The Plain Chest Radiograph in the Assessment of Cardiac Disease. In: Movahed, A., Gnanasegaran, G., Buscombe, J., Hall, M. (eds) Integrating Cardiology for Nuclear Medicine Physicians. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78674-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78674-0_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-78673-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-78674-0

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