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radiologypics

I am a radiology physician from California, USA.
radiologypics has written 328 posts for RADIOLOGYPICS.COM

Children versus Adults – Who is more sensitive to radiation?

Almost all parents at some point during their children’s lives will need to take their child to the hospital for some sort of illness. Whether it is a cough, fever, broken bone, or abdominal pain, a visit to the emergency room or urgent care will include some sort of radiology study and often that radiology … Continue reading

Radiation Levels of Medical Imaging Studies

Imaging Modalities Medical imaging is a very broad area of medicine and includes many different types of imaging modalities. These include most commonly radiography (x-ray), nuclear medicine, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, elastography, tomography, positron emitted tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT), and echocardiography. Other more advanced or exotic imaging studies include photoacoustic imaging and … Continue reading

What is Radiation?

As a pediatric radiologist I have to be constantly aware of the radiation exposure I may be giving to my patients in my daily practice. Children are more sensitive to the effects of radiation, and they have a longer life to live to experience the potential sequelae of too much radiation. But radiation is also … Continue reading

American Board of Radiology Certifying Examination – Why 15 months after residency completion?

I am currently studying for the American Board of Radiology Certifying Examination. By far this is the one standardized examination that I have studied the least for. How the board thinks newly minted radiologists can study for an exam and practice in a new job still baffles me. A few years ago the American Board … Continue reading

ABR Core Exam Recalls

The American Board of Radiology Core Examination is administered every June in Tucson and Chicago. Given that residents are likely starting to ramp up their studying efforts this time of year, I thought I should write this post on recall questions. The more time that passes, the fewer questions I will remember to post below. So without … Continue reading

Using Ionizing Radiation in Children – What do you know?

I’m curious to understand what the readers of radiologypics.com know about ionizing radiation, so I’ve created a few questions that I’d like to get your answers to below.

Radiology Physics – Radioactive Material Package Labels

Packages that arrive to a nuclear medicine department may be labeled with special radioactive labels that have specific allowable limits of radiation depending on the label. As part of the radioisotope safety examination, candidates should be aware of what these labels mean. The captions of each label below have the specific amounts of radiation that each … Continue reading

Radiology Physics – Comparisons of Mammography and General Radiography

The test question writers at the American Board of Radiology seem to be obsessed with comparing mammography and general radiography. The below table should be high yield information for the ABR Core examination and certifying examination. In simple terms, mammography is lower energy, takes longer, generally uses different targets and filters, and is higher resolution. Those are … Continue reading

Radiology Physics – Radionuclides

As a third installment in a series of articles on radiology physics, I’ve included a good summary table of important radionuclides to know for the ABR Core examination. This test also contains a component of the Radioisotope Safety Examination (RISE) which must be passed to obtain an Authorized User status from the ABR. Part of the … Continue reading

Radiology Physics – Acute Radiation Syndromes

In continuation of a series of posts on radiology physics as preparation for the ABR Core Examination, another important set of threshold doses to consider are those for acute radiation syndromes. Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS), or radiation sickness, is a serious illness that can happen when a person is exposed to very high levels of radiation, … Continue reading