When you go to the dentist and they give you those notoriously painful x-ray exams where they assure you that it will be "only one more" stiff piece you have to force onto the roof of your mouth, they are probably using a radiography machine which belongs to the family of used medical imaging equipment. On the other end, medical imaging equipment also includes the very same kind of machines that produce the joy in your heart as you see the first image of the beautiful baby in your belly--floating in utero and sucking its thumb. However it's utilized, medical imaging devices are absolutely vital in obtaining information about our health and to ultimately, allow our progress within the digital age.
By definition, a medical imaging machine is one that can create images of the human body for clinical purposes or medical science. There are many different types of medical imaging equipment that we use today. Perhaps the most popular kind is the microscope. Unbeknownst to many people, the microscope is the most basic form of medical imaging equipment which is able to examine parts and parcels of the whole that is your body. The electron microscope has the ability to magnify at levels up to 2 million times! Another well-used piece of medical equipment is the radiographic form of machines. The images created by radiography uses flourscopic and projectional radiographs, more commonly referred to as x-rays. Colon and stomach cancer are often detected through these means. MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is yet another medical imaging process that is important to seeing into our bodies--in this case, the brain. It uses powerful magnets to polarize and excite single protons in water molecules in human tissue to produce a singal that appears in the image. Finally, the last form of medical imaging equipment that will be mentioned is thermography machines. These kinds of devices are used to detect breast cancer because they produce images of regional surface temperature and are based on the principle that pre-cancerous tissue produce more heat than normal breast tissue.
It would be incredibly hard to see every recess and cavity of your body if you simply had a flashlight and some determination. Medical imaging equipment makes it possible for a doctor or trained technician to see into you without having to physically operate or probe uncomfortably around. Incorporating their biology and medical scientific knowledge, they can read these images to reveal, diagnose and examine diseases. Without these valuable tools, even with used EKG machines, there is no way they can perform these practices with the same effectiveness. The link between you being able to detect the cancer growing in your lungs and the existence of medical imaging equipment is one that is inextricably tied and co-dependent.
