{"entity":{"id":"x-ray-radiography-fluoroscopy","kind":"technology","name":"X-ray radiography and fluoroscopy","aka":[],"tldr":"The plain X-ray is the oldest and cheapest medical image: a single shadow picture of bone and lung. Fluoroscopy is the live-video version, used to steer needles, catheters and stents during cancer procedures.","summary":"A radiography room has an X-ray tube on one side of the patient and a flat-panel digital detector on the other; a single exposure records how much each tissue blocked the beam. In cancer care the chest X-ray still finds many lung tumours by accident, the skeletal survey remains a fallback for myeloma bone disease where whole-body CT or MRI is not available, and mobile units image inpatients. Fluoroscopy runs the tube continuously at low current to give a live picture, and a C-arm or fixed angiography suite is the room where interventional radiologists perform chemoembolisation and radioembolisation of liver tumours, place ports and drains, treat vertebral fractures with cement and take image-guided biopsies.\n\nAgainst CT, radiography is far cheaper, faster and lower in dose, but it projects a three-dimensional body onto one plane, so overlapping structures hide small tumours and it cannot stage disease. Modern angiography suites add cone-beam CT on the same C-arm so the operator can check a catheter position or an embolisation in three dimensions without moving the patient.","status":"standard-of-care","asOf":"2026-09-17","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiography","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia: radiography","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiography"},{"label":"Wikipedia: fluoroscopy","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoroscopy"}],"tags":["machines-wave"],"related":["low-dose-ct-screening"],"cancers":["lung-cancer","multiple-myeloma","hcc","osteosarcoma"],"sections":["imaging"],"technologies":["ct","mammography"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":["siemens-healthineers","ge-healthcare","philips","canon-medical","fujifilm","shimadzu"],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"X-rays from a tube pass through the body and are absorbed in proportion to tissue density and thickness; a digital detector records the transmitted pattern as a projection image, continuously in fluoroscopy.","strengths":["Cheapest and most widely available imaging","Low radiation dose per image","Live guidance for interventional procedures"],"limitations":["Overlapping structures hide small lesions","Cannot stage cancer or measure soft tissue","Fluoroscopy time adds dose to staff and patient"],"since":1896},"route":"/technologies/x-ray-radiography-fluoroscopy/","neighbours":{"technology":[{"id":"ct","kind":"technology","name":"CT (computed tomography)","route":"/technologies/ct/"},{"id":"low-dose-ct-screening","kind":"technology","name":"Low-dose CT lung screening","route":"/technologies/low-dose-ct-screening/"},{"id":"mammography","kind":"technology","name":"Mammography & tomosynthesis","route":"/technologies/mammography/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"hcc","kind":"cancer","name":"Hepatocellular carcinoma","route":"/cancers/hcc/"},{"id":"lung-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Lung cancer (all types)","route":"/cancers/lung-cancer/"},{"id":"multiple-myeloma","kind":"cancer","name":"Multiple myeloma","route":"/cancers/multiple-myeloma/"},{"id":"osteosarcoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Osteosarcoma","route":"/cancers/osteosarcoma/"}],"section":[{"id":"imaging","kind":"section","name":"Imaging","route":"/fronts/imaging/"}],"company":[{"id":"canon-medical","kind":"company","name":"Canon Medical Systems","route":"/companies/canon-medical/"},{"id":"fujifilm","kind":"company","name":"FUJIFILM Healthcare","route":"/companies/fujifilm/"},{"id":"ge-healthcare","kind":"company","name":"GE HealthCare","route":"/companies/ge-healthcare/"},{"id":"philips","kind":"company","name":"Philips","route":"/companies/philips/"},{"id":"shimadzu","kind":"company","name":"Shimadzu","route":"/companies/shimadzu/"},{"id":"siemens-healthineers","kind":"company","name":"Siemens Healthineers","route":"/companies/siemens-healthineers/"}]}}