Radiology Questions

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BaylorGuy

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I honestly have no idea what are the differences between the various radiology specialties....I.E. diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, etc.

On a side note....i totally got lost in the radiology department today and spent a good 30 minutes trying to fnid my way around amid the CT scans, MRIs, and PET scan machines.

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BaylorGuy said:
I honestly have no idea what are the differences between the various radiology specialties....I.E. diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, etc.

On a side note....i totally got lost in the radiology department today and spent a good 30 minutes trying to fnid my way around amid the CT scans, MRIs, and PET scan machines.

i think all radiology departments are set up that way.
 
BaylorGuy said:
I honestly have no idea what are the differences between the various radiology specialties....I.E. diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, etc.

On a side note....i totally got lost in the radiology department today and spent a good 30 minutes trying to fnid my way around amid the CT scans, MRIs, and PET scan machines.


IR involves minimally invasive, targeted treatments performed using imaging for guidance. Their procedures have less risk, less pain and less recovery time compared to open surgery. IR doesn't have to be for treatment purposes, it can be diagnostic as well, as in US or CT guided fine needle aspiration procedure.

I think diagnostic radiology use image from x-ray, MRI, CT to diagnose diseases.

Nuclear medicine uses very small amounts of radioactive materials (radiopharmaceuticals) to diagnose and treat disease. In imaging, the radiopharmaceuticals are detected by special types of cameras that work with computers to provide very precise pictures about the area of the body being imaged. In treatment, the radiopharmaceuticals go directly to the organ being treated. The amount of radiation in a typical nuclear imaging procedure is comparable with that received during a diagnostic x-ray, and the amount received in a typical treatment procedure is kept within safe limits.

Sorry.. I'm not really explaining the diff between the 3. I'm sure someone else can do a better job.
 
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Radiology is the use of medical imaging (US, MRI, CT, X-ray, nucs) to diagnose and treat disease; it may thus be diagnostic or interventional depending on whether or not you are actually doing something or just looking.

Nuclear medicine is the use of radioactive isotopes to produce images relating to function. I think the reason it's separate is historical, but it's usually subsumed under radiology these days. Rad onc, using radiation therapeutically to treat cancer, used to be part of radiology (as 'therapeutic radiology') but is now its own field.
 
Diagnostic radiology is a 4 year residency (after 1 year internship) which involves all diagnostic imaging modalities (including 6 months nuclera medicine). We read x-rays, cts, mris, ultrasounds, nuclear medicine. Most diagnostic radiologists will do some procedures as well (you don't need to be an IR to do CT/US/MRI guided biopsies, paracentesis, thoracentesis, or even radiofrequency or cryoablation).

All diagnostic radiologists rotate through interventional radiology for several months during residency. Some do an extra year of fellowship after residency focusing on interventional radiology. These people can also interpret all diagnostic modalities, but are more intensely trained in invasive procedures such as angiograms with or without peripheral angioplasty, nephrostomy tube placement, biliary tube placement/stenting/dilatation, G-tube placement, abcess drainage, vascular access (ports, PICCs, dialysis catheter placement, etc). In most private practices, IRs are expected to interpret images in addition to do procedures. In academia and in larger private practices, they will mostly do procedures.

Nuclear medicine residency is seperate residency that is 2 years after internship and only trains to interpret nuclear medicine studies (studies in which a radioisotope is injected into the patient). These include cardiac studies, PET, bone scans, HIDA scansm, V/Q scans, etc. Nuc med programs are trying to get some more training in CT since PET scans are often combined with CT scans to better localize abnormalities. The main problem with nucs is that radiologists are qualified to read all the same studies plus everything else and thus the jobs for just nucs are more limited.
 
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