Lecture Notes on Human Anatomy - Hryhorieva O.A., Svitlytskyi A.O. 2020
Anatomy of the Musculoskeletal System
Individual Myology
X-ray Examination in Modern Anatomy and Medicine. X-ray Anatomy of Musculoskeletal Structures
Lecture Outline:
2. X-ray anatomy of bones
✵ X-ray examination is The Use of X-radiation in medicine to study the Structure and function of various Organs and systems and to diagnose diseases.
✵ X-ray examination is based on the differential absorption of X-rays by various organs and Tissues depending on their volume and chemical composition.
✵ The more strongly a given organ absorbs X-radiation, the more intense the shadow it casts on the screen or film.
✵ For the X-ray examination of many organs, artificial contrast Methods are employed. A substance is introduced into the organ's cavity, parenchyma, or surrounding spaces that absorbs X-rays to a greater or lesser degree than the organ under study (see contrast medium).
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (often spelled Roentgen; German: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen; March 27, 1845 – February 10, 1923) was a German physicist and the first-ever recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (1901).
THE PRINCIPLE OF X-ray examination can be represented as a simple flowchart: X-ray source → object of study → radiation detector → physician.
Class="center">
✵ The X-ray tube serves as the source of radiation.
✵ The object of study is a patient referred for the detection of pathological changes in their body. In addition, healthy individuals are also examined to screen for subclinical or asymptomatic diseases.
✵ A fluoroscopic screen or a film cassette is used as the radiation detector.
Fluoroscopy is performed using a screen, whereas radiography utilizes film.
X-ray anatomy of bones
Skeletal bones can be studied in a living person during an X-ray examination. The presence of calcium salts in bones makes them less radiolucent than the surrounding soft tissues.
On radiographs, areas of compact and spongy bone can be clearly visualized, allowing individual PARTS OF THE bone to be distinguished.
Compact bone appears on the radiograph as dense shadows in the form of bright bands of varying width, while spongy bone presents a reticular pattern of various sizes.
Between the two bright shadows of the diaphyseal compact bone, a darker, broader band corresponding to the medullary cavity is discernible.
Bone cavities containing soft tissues or air, which are radiolucent (such as the Orbit, Paranasal Sinuses—frontal, sphenoid, Maxilla—and the Nasal cavity), appear on radiographs as large dark formations (radiolucencies) bounded by bright lines representing the shadows of their bony walls.
Radiographs allow for the visualization of ossification centers, which are used to determine a person's age, as well as tracking the replacement of metaphyseal Cartilage with Bone tissue, the fusion of bone segments, and other developmental milestones.
Last update: 08/08/2026
Editorial and Educational Adaptation: This material has been compiled based on the primary/original source text. The project team performed an editorial review, corrected technical inaccuracies, structured sections, and adapted the content for an educational format.
What was processed:
- elimination of formatting defects (OCR errors, structural breaks, corrupted characters);
- editorial organization of content;
- standardization of terminology in accordance with academic sources;
- verification of factual statements against the original source text.
All mentions of the author, publication year, and origin of the primary text have been preserved in accordance with the source.