Fluorography is one of the methods x-ray examination. Its essence is to photograph an image obtained using X-rays on a special screen. The transmission capacity for X-rays is different for all tissues, so their structure is reflected in the resulting image in the form of darkened or light areas.
She is preventive method research, which does not provide a sufficiently unambiguous picture to make an accurate diagnosis, but allows one to detect some deviations. The results of such a study are used for the primary diagnosis of diseases of the lungs, heart and mammary glands.
Fluorography has to be done not only when there is serious problems with health, but also in such cases:
- preventive examination during employment;
- conscripts of military registration and enlistment offices;
- obtaining a driving license;
- upcoming trips abroad;
- registration of documents for guardianship and adoption;
- to participate in partner childbirth.
In view of this, many visitors medical institutions A reasonable question arises: is fluorography harmful?
Fluorographic methods and their safety
There are 2 main types of fluorographic examination:
- Traditional fluorography (film). This method is gradually becoming a thing of the past. During its execution, X-ray radiation passes through human body from the back and falls directly onto the photosensitive film, on which images of organs and bones are displayed. Weaknesses this method - the need for special equipment for developing photographs and quite high dose irradiation.
- Digital fluorography. This method is based on the linear passage of a thin beam through the entire examined area. The software then works on the image and displays it on the computer monitor. IN in this case the harm of fluorography is more minimal, since low radiation exposure is used. In addition, this type of fluorography allows you to instantly take images, quickly process them, and conveniently store diagnostic information.
X-ray of the lungs is to some extent a high-quality alternative to fluorography. This is due to the fact that it has more detail. On an x-ray, even small focal shadows up to 2 mm can be distinguished, which is not possible with fluorographic examination.
Digital fluorography differs from its conventional counterpart not only in the lower radiation dose to the patient, but also in a fundamentally different approach to research.
There is such a concept - effective equivalent dose (EDD). This indicator indicates the probable measure of the risk of the consequences of radiation exposure in the future, which may affect the entire body or its individual organs and tissues. This takes into account their radiosensitivity.
When traditional fluorography is performed, the EED is in the range of 0.5-0.8 mSv. And with digital fluorographic examination - 0.04 mSv. Of course, the second version of the indicators looks much more attractive and it is unlikely that anyone would think that this is dangerous. Another question is: how many budget clinics use this technology?
When some patients who do not want to stand in a long line for fluorography ask for a chest x-ray, the radiologist must refuse in this case. Since, most likely, a person does not understand something, since he voluntarily agrees to accept a radiation dose that is much higher than what would be received with standard fluorography.
During traditional fluorography, a person receives more than half of the permissible annual maximum safe radiation dose
Indications
The main purpose of fluorographic examination is the prevention of diseases of the lower respiratory tract. According to the recommendation of the World Health Organization, fluorography should be done once every 2 years for all adults over 15 years of age.
Every year, representatives of a special risk group should undergo such a study:
- A history of chronic nonspecific respiratory diseases, diseases genitourinary system, peptic ulcer stomach and duodenum, endocrine pathologies.
- Undergoing radiation, cytostatic and steroid therapy.
- Asocial individuals who do not have a permanent place of residence.
- Emigrants or internally displaced persons living in special institutions.
- Social workers, collaborating with children and teenagers.
- Employees of medical institutions, sanatoriums, dispensaries, educational and sports institutions for children and adolescents.
- HIV-infected;
- survivors of tuberculosis (first 3 years);
- persons who were in close contact with carriers of Koch's bacillus;
- newly released from correctional institutions (first 2 years);
- employees of tuberculosis clinics and maternity hospitals.
- Fluorography cannot be refused, even if it was completed relatively recently, in the following cases:
- if there is serious suspicion of tuberculosis;
- call for military service;
- newly diagnosed HIV infection;
- There is a pregnant woman or newborn in the family.
The fluorograph allows you to service in a day large number patients. If the fluorography room is organized in the right way and radiologists work harmoniously, up to 150 people can be examined in an hour.
The efficiency of digital fluorography is approximately 15% higher than film fluorography
Contraindications
There are no absolute contraindications to fluorography.
Relative contraindications include the following:
- The general serious condition of the patient or other reasons that do not allow him to be in an upright position.
- Severe sensations of lack of air, claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces).
- Pregnancy - especially during early stages. Fluorography can be considered safe for the fetus if it is performed after the 20th week of pregnancy, when the child’s vital signs have already been formed. important organs.
- Lactation. If during this period it is not possible to avoid fluorographic examination, then after the procedure it is recommended to express the milk and pour it out, and feed the baby only the next portion produced.
- Childhood up to 15 years. This research method can cause irreparable harm to the child’s still fragile body and even provoke the development cancer cells. In addition, due to the radiation received, immunity decreases, so the child may become more susceptible to various viruses and infections.
In such cases, only a doctor can, after weighing all the benefits and possible risks, determine whether it will be harmful or whether it still needs to be carried out this study.
Fluorography itself is not capable of causing irreparable harm to the human body. However, in combination with other studies related to radiation exposure and general background radiation, a certain amount of risk may be present. And yet, if, in general, you refuse such a mandatory examination, then you can harm yourself even more by not detecting some serious disease in a timely manner.
Fluorography is one of the most common medical methods diagnosis of chest diseases. Despite the radiation exposure, the dosage during the study is kept to a minimum and does not pose a particular threat to life. The dose of radiation that we receive from the Sun per year is 50-60 times higher than that of one preventive procedure. Fluorography allows you to identify many diseases of the chest and undergo timely treatment.
What is fluorography?
The advantage of this examination is that it allows you to identify the disease at early stages its development. FLG of the lungs is carried out not only when pneumonia is detected. Fluorography can show the disorder of others internal organs. During the examination, the doctor often notices problems with musculoskeletal or cardiovascular system, breast disease, change digestive tract, increase lymph nodes and much more.
After diagnosis based on availability dark spots In the picture, the doctor identifies possible foci of the disease and prescribes necessary treatment. Darkening does not always indicate any pathology - they may be the result of illnesses suffered by the patient previously.
The principle of any fluorographic study is ionizing radiation. Its dose during examination is only 0.04 m3v. That's how much we get in ordinary life within two weeks
How often can fluorography be done?
By law, a working person is required to undergo an X-ray examination every year. There are certain categories of professions that need to undergo fluorography more often:
Like any other procedure, fluorography has its contraindications:
- pregnant and nursing mothers are allowed to see her if absolutely necessary;
- the procedure is intended only for adults; adolescents under fourteen years of age are prohibited by law from undergoing examination (the procedure is considered harmful to the child);
- patients in serious condition (oncology, bronchial asthma, diabetes or other advanced diseases) are not allowed.
There are two types of fluorography: film and digital. Fluorography different parts body is characterized by different doses of radiation.
X-rays and fluorographic diagnostics are not the same thing. The principle of action is ionizing radiation, but the dose is different. On X-ray it is below 0.3 mSv, with FLG it is 0.5 mSv. X-rays show the structures of the body part being examined more clearly.
Despite the fact that researchers' opinions about the dangers ionized radiation on at the moment are very different, the procedure itself is not dangerous to humans. The annual recommended rate for radiation exposure is 1 mSv. On average, a person receives 0.05 mSv during chest fluorography. Compared to the permissible dose, this number is 20 times less. Therefore, the opinion that conducting an examination once a year will lead to the formation of cancer cells is erroneous. Fluorography - useful procedure without harm to health.
Diagnostics, which allows you to obtain images of organs chest cavity by using x-rays, discovered at the beginning of the last century.
Due to the fact that X-ray radiation is used during fluorography, many consider it dangerous and refuse this important activity.
But it’s not worth it, since FLG is capable of identifying many serious illnesses lungs, including tuberculosis.
Why do you need fluorography and is it harmful?
Currently, fluorography is used to diagnose acute and chronic lung diseases(including tuberculosis, pneumonia, tumors, emphysema and silicosis), hearts and large vessels(pericarditis, rheumatic carditis, congenital and acquired heart defects and others), as well as bones, forming chest.
Photo 1. X-ray photo of the lungs. They are grayish in color, the ribs are clearly visible, as well as the organs located in this area.
The method has found application in other areas - for recognizing ailments sinuses, pituitary gland And skull bones. Using fluorography, you can monitor the course of diseases and the effectiveness of treatment.
Due to its accessibility, fluorography is widespread and is also a powerful tool for the prevention of organ diseases chest cavity. Those working at enterprises undergo mandatory preventive examinations, including fluorographic examination, once a year unemployed adults and pensioners - once every two years.
This procedure is also necessary for those who get a job or study after graduating from school, are going to go to a resort or travel abroad, as well as for expectant fathers whose wives are registered as pregnant women.
Despite the fact that during the fluorography procedure, a person is exposed to ionizing radiation, the harm from it is minimal. This is due to the fact that the process lasts hundredths of a second, and the radiation dose itself corresponds 2-8 days tanning in the sun.
Radiation dose during fluorography of the lungs, its consequences
The fluorography method is based on open Wilhelm Roentgen special radiation lying in the range between ultraviolet And gamma radiation, special kind electromagnetic waves. The discovery made by chance by a German physicist exceeded all expectations.
However, the little-studied phenomenon also had pitfalls. While the benefits of the new discovery are difficult to overestimate to this day, people did not immediately learn about the dangers of radiation. Many researchers and patients died from the effects of radiation sickness, which developed due to excessive consumption large doses and absence protective measures, which were developed much later based on accumulated sad experience.
In X-ray diagnostics, units of measurement are usually used to determine the radiation dose x-ray And sievert. In this case, 1 roentgen = 1000 milliroentgen (mR), 1 sievert = 1000 millisievert (mSv).
Sieverts are used to determine radiation doses sieverts received by a person during his life accumulate.
How dangerous is it, is it possible to undergo FLG 2 times in a row?
We receive radiation (in small doses) from many external sources: sunlight, water, food, soil, air, housing and other materials and buildings, vehicles, household appliances. In general, over the course of a year, approximately 2-3 mSv.
Reference. The maximum permissible dose of radiation for a person during a lifetime should not exceed 700 mSv.
Science is moving forward, and not so long ago, along with centuries-old film fluorography, a more modern and safer one appeared digital fluorography.
Effective equivalent dose (EDD) exposure received by a person during a conventional film fluorographic examination averages from 0.5 to 0.8 mSv, depending on the type of fluorograph. Older devices also have higher radiation exposure. With modern digital fluorography, the same dose will be only 0.03 - 0.06 mSv.
Important! Exposure to large doses over a short period of time is less dangerous than long-term use of small doses. It is precisely due to the short exposure time that fluorographic examination, like large x-rays, is considered relatively harmless to patients.
Digital fluorography allows not only to reduce the radiation dose by an order of magnitude, but also, being copied onto electronic media, makes it possible to increase image to improve diagnostic quality. At the same time, a significant drawback of its film fluorography - small image size and low quality - loses its sharpness.
Photo 2. A woman undergoes fluorography using a digital machine. It gives more accurate results compared to its film predecessor, and also has a lower radiation dose.
Without any harm to health, digital fluorography can be performed if necessary repeatedly(when performing various diagnostic procedures, to assess the dynamics pathological process).
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Are there any contraindications?
However, like any other procedure, it has contraindications, mainly relative, which include:
- Age up to 15 years old. In this case, to prevent tuberculosis, a diagnostic Mantoux test is usually performed instead of fluorography. Although the reaction is not specific (that is, it can be positive in other situations), it does not involve radiation exposure at all and is completely harmless.
- Pregnancy And feeding chest. The fact is that in the first and second trimesters the formation of organs and systems of the fetus occurs, and X-rays can have a detrimental effect on their formation. The reason for performing fluorography in pregnant women must exceed the risk for the development of the unborn child. Fluorography does not affect the quality of milk and the health of nursing mothers, and breastfeeding is carried out using some preventive measures - lead aprons, expressing milk before and after the procedure.
Photo 3. Pregnant woman with an ultrasound image of her stomach. During pregnancy, it is not recommended to undergo fluorography.
- Heavy a patient’s condition in which it is impossible to capture the correct image for purely technical reasons - for example, in bedridden patients or with severe shortness of breath, an attack of suffocation.
- Fear closed spaces and other mental health conditions.
What do people who undergo fluorography benefit from?
Some people, having read or heard a lot of incorrectly presented information, prefer don't visit clinics and do not undergo fluorography. This happens due to an incorrect comparison of the risks and benefits of preventive procedures.
How often can fluorography be done is a common medical question in which misunderstanding, stereotypical thinking and fiction are closely intertwined. Doctors say that the normal frequency is no more than 2 times a year, but this is only an average.
This procedure is based on X-ray radiation, which is electromagnetic ionizing radiation - a type of radiation. For many, just the mention of the word radiation already conceals a threat to health, but the risk lies not in the phenomenon itself, but in its varieties and the radiation doses received. Sunlight and tanning is also the result of the action of radiation waves, but they do not harm the functioning of internal organs.
There is, of course, a danger when undergoing fluorography, but in every city there is a small natural radiation background emanating from transport, industrial enterprises smog-polluted atmosphere and soil. Even the usual ones microwave ovens, washing machines and refrigerators emit microscopic doses of radiation, but there is no point in refusing to use these useful devices.
The limit norm for human body counts radioactive radiation with a power of up to 200 mSv per year, and during the fluorography procedure a person receives from 0.03 to 0.08 mSv.
Some modern high-tech devices are capable of taking pictures even with radiation as low as 0.002 mSv, so the procedure does not pose any risk of radiation exposure.
Even when combined with the natural background, the radiation level does not exceed permissible limits.
Fluorographic examination should be performed as often as required medical indications to help diagnose diseases.
You shouldn’t put yourself on the same level as emergency responders. nuclear power plants Chernobyl and Fukushima: in order to develop radiation sickness, you will need at least 25,000 photographs taken per day, and during fluorography only 1-2 are taken.
For the prevention and timely detection of diseases, fluorography should be done once a year, but there are categories of people for whom it is necessary to do this more often - 2 times a year.
These include:
- employees of maternity hospitals and departments, specialized medical institutions and tuberculosis dispensaries;
- kindergarten teachers;
- people suffering diabetes mellitus, asthma, ulcers and other chronic diseases;
- workers in the mining and steel industries;
- those who work in factories that produce asbestos, rubber and chemicals.
Smokers are also at risk.
If, due to professional necessity, a person is forced to frequently contact other people, then it is necessary to undergo fluorography at least once a year - this norm is enshrined in legislative documents.
Cooks, teachers, doctors and nurses are not allowed to work until they undergo a planned medical examination, which includes fluorography. In many universities, students are also required to provide fluorographic images, otherwise they will not be allowed to attend the session. Even in some non-state enterprises, for example, large banks, where employees interact with thousands of people every day, there is an official requirement to undergo a fluorographic examination.
To neutralize possible harmful effects, you should include in your diet more foods rich in antioxidants - vitamins A, C and E:
- red wine and grape juice;
- milk and fermented milk products;
- whole wheat bread;
- oatmeal;
- bran;
- brown rice;
- prunes.
Fluorography for children
According to the law, fluorography is prohibited for children under 15 years of age.
To examine children under this age, it is used ultrasound examination(ultrasound) or x-ray, because when it comes to kids, the damage received outweighs all the benefits this method diagnostics
For the fragile body of a small child, irradiation can have disastrous consequences.
It has an effect on reducing immunity and opens the way viral infections, and can even provoke the appearance of cancer cells.
But if the case concerns adolescents over 15 years of age, then fluorography can be carried out as prescribed by the attending physician. Inflammation mild, prolonged cough, positive reaction on manta rays can be symptoms of serious diseases that are important to identify initial stage and prescribe appropriate treatment.
In such a situation, the risk of radiation exposure is much lower than the threat to the child’s health, especially since the frequency of the procedure does not exceed 1 time per year.
Fluorography for pregnant and breastfeeding women
Pregnant women do not undergo fluorography. Just like for kids, radiation exposure may cause irreparable harm to the fetus. If necessary, radiography is performed: a more expensive type of examination, which makes it possible to obtain higher quality and more detailed images. The radiation dose is the same, but the doctor has the opportunity to obtain much more information necessary for treatment than with fluorography.
During the period of breastfeeding, there are no contraindications to the procedure; it does not have any harmful effects on the quality of milk.
If you are not in the risk zone, then whether to do a fluorographic examination for preventive purposes is up to you to decide. It helps to identify the development of tuberculosis, lung cancer and other diseases in the early stages. dangerous diseases respiratory system.
For healthy person undergoing the procedure once a year is the norm and does not entail deterioration in health, and minor damage can be easily eliminated if you add more foods rich in antioxidants to your menu.
How often can fluorography of the lungs be done? There is no doubt that this procedure is not harmless: it uses X-ray radiation - and today no one needs to explain exactly how it affects the human body. But everyone also knows that there are “dangerous” and “safe” doses of radiation. Your metabolism can recover from exposure to five roentgens in an average of ten to twelve months—during fluorography you get three. Accordingly, a procedure performed once a year will definitely not kill you. And it won’t even harm your health if there are no contraindications to it:
- Age – up to 15 years;
- Pregnancy and lactation;
- Oncological and other diseases, including respiratory ones: in this case, admission or non-admission to fluorography is determined by the doctor.
Also, according to the decision of the attending physician, fluorography can be performed more than once a year: if tuberculosis is suspected, for example. If this is a necessary measure, and the risk of radiation exposure to the patient’s health is not as great as the danger of refusing timely diagnosis, you have to sacrifice less.
Is fluorography harmful? Yes, definitely. But it is no more dangerous than: both here and there, it is only important to maintain the dose. However, a solarium is something that you can do without, while regular medical examinations using “terribly harmful” x-ray radiation help to identify various diseases in the early stages, when they do not yet produce noticeable symptoms. “Harmful” fluorography ultimately helps maintain health.
How many times a year can fluorography of the lungs be done? It’s best to do it once, but if absolutely necessary, do it twice.
Is it possible to do radiography instead of fluorography? X-ray (Paveletskaya) – more safe method examination, and in most cases it is preferable. The amount of radiation exposure is so small that X-rays can be safely taken even at intervals of several days or weeks (for example, when it is necessary to monitor the healing of a fracture).
How can you minimize the harm from what you receive? 
radiation? After undergoing fluorography, it is not superfluous to take activated carbon: crush three or four tablets, add water and drink. If desired, repeat after a couple of hours. This method is known to everyone who has contact with radiation in one way or another. In particular, it is used by radiologists and nuclear power plant employees - and rest assured, they absorb much higher doses of radiation than you do when undergoing fluorography. Another thing that removes radiation from the body is foods rich in fiber: oatmeal, bran, rice, nuts. And also honey and vegetable oil, dairy products, grapes and dry red wine in small quantities. NOT vodka, NOT beer: alcohol itself does not contribute to the removal of radiation in any way - the whole secret is in the grapes.
