Question

Mr. Miller’s radiology report states that the X-ray views included an AP view. You ask the nurse practitioner what this means, and she states that the direction of the X-ray beam was from anterior to posterior. Describe, in lay terms, what that means.

Answer 1

X-ray machines have mainly 2 parts

1. x-ray generator and a 2. x-ray detector.

Projectional radiography X-ray generator Radiograph Object X-ray detector

As shown in the image The X-ray beam passes from the x-ray generator to the x-ray detector. there is a radiograph inside the detector to convert the x-ray beam into an image.

X rays are taken from many directions to visualize the targeted part from many angles. Some examples are

AP - anterior to posterior (In this case x-ray beam are passed from the front side of the body part to backside)

PA - Posterior to anterior (In this case x-ray beam are passed from the backside of the body part to frontside)

Lateral - in this case, x-ray beams are passed from side to side of the body part