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Ionising Radiation > ... > Diagnostic procedures
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Diagnostic procedures
Different procedures are used to detect a disease. The patient’s medical history, also referred to as anamnesis, is compiled first to establish the diagnosis. Anamnesis is the basis of all further diagnostic procedures. These include not only physical examinations (for example palpation) or laboratory tests (for example blood) but also imaging procedures such as diagnostic X-ray and ultrasound examinations. In the following, imaging procedures will be described in more detail.
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X-ray diagnostics
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 In 1895 Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovered a new kind of radiation that was named after him later on (Roentgen rays, also referred to as X-rays in many languages). Roentgen’s epoch-making discovery was enthusiastically celebrated. X-rays permitted insights into the human body without surgery for the first time ever, thus marking a dramatic progress in medical diagnostics. Nowadays X-ray diagnostics is a widespread and frequently used imaging procedure.
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Diagnostic nuclear medicine
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 Patients in diagnostic nuclear medicine are given radioactive pharmaceuticals (radiopharmaceuticals) accumulating in organs and tissues in varying concentrations, depending on the pharmacological properties of the compound administered. Due to their radioactivity, the location and time of distribution within the body is detectable using proper measuring equipment, and thus can be visualised.
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Alternative tomographic procedures
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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound diagnostics can be used as an alternative to the use of diagnostic X-ray and nuclear medicine procedures. These methods do not rely on X-rays or radiolabeled pharmaceuticals for image generation, but rather on different magnetic and electromagnetic fields and/or mechanical waves.
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