I'm a radiographer (The guy who does your xrays and CT scans), I've worked in private hospitals, clinics and public emergency hospitals.
I've been doing this for 2 years and am currently in my 3rd.
I'll try to respond when I can, but I am just doing this in my down time really. Also I'll try to answer all the questions, but having said that if some of them aren't appropriate or I'm not really allowed to say Ill let you know.
Uhh I'd say that the most outrageous has got to be anytime someone has nailed something into themselves. Simply put some guy decided to use a nail gun to see what happens.
Ah. May I guess the demographics of your area based on that statement? Judging based not based on the nail, but based on lack of lightbulb up the back alley.
Middle income, predominantly tradies and young families?
Not sure if he was a tradie but yeah pretty much. Nice guy though. Taking pictures of it the entire time.
Do you wear a radiation exposure meter, or how is that monitored?
How much computed tomography maths do radiographers understand.
Yeah so I wear something called a Thermoluminescent Dosimeter. Basically you clip it or wear it and it measures the amount of radiation you wouldve likely to received. I always keep it near my crotch. I wanna know how much radiation its receiving. In terms of measuring, as far as I'm aware my TLD has a small film in it that an algorithm from the company that makes them is able to identify the different rates of exposure to said film. It then uses that to give me an overall dosage.
Yeah in terms of CT, depends on where you studied. My university taught us hard in CT early on in the course, whereas some are pretty late or loose about it. Having said that it depends on the person. Some radiographers are absolute machines in everything CT and some are more specialised in MRI or xray. There is a fair amount of maths involved, but theres always a ton of variables.
Did video really kill the radio star?
You know what, probably. This is america.
Sorry 2 questions (based on some knowledge I know about your industry but not hearing directly):
1. What do you think of Artificial Intelligence in your industry?
2. What are your views on radiologists who work locally compared to those who live on a tropical island and wake up for a few hours and review x-rays sent to them from around the world and go back to living their life?
1) So technology in our field has been nothing short of a huge advantage. It saves you guys extra radiation, it saves us so much time and overall unecessary work. Having said that I dont have any faith in AI taking over. In terms of xray theres a lot of personal work that needs to happen. What people dont usually understand is that each xray I take has to meet pretty stringent criteria. I need this xray to be positioned like this and look like this. Usually that involves directly positioning the patient to the way that I think will show that criteria and imaging. On top of that theres also the idea of "Oh these pictures are perfect, but I can do one more image thats off criteria, but shows the fracture perfectly". In these instances i dont have faith in AI being able to do that, but who knows. Also im not sure if id trust a machine entirely with radiating me. I dont know about you.
2)IMO I dont have many issues with that. I havent really experienced or worked where that was the circumstance, but all radiologists are medically trained. They all went to medical school and then specialised in radiology. I mean i loved meeting my radiologists face to face and building a working relationship with them,but at the end of the day if they did their job well and accurately, then i have no problem with it. However I do favour the local ones a bit more, mostly because if i see soemthing suspicious I can go see him straight away and we can talk about what to do, or he can just give me his overall opinions on the projections that ive done.
Thanks for posting this, I'm curious about your field.
Good questions!
1) SO i needed to have either a specialist math or physics unit taken during yr12 and biology. English was also a requirement cos yeah youre dealing with people all day. I think in terms of uni biomed is a requirement but I cant say for sure. I went straight from high school to radiography. You do need to do first aid training and what not but thats all organised during uni. At least for me it was.
2)Its gotten harder I'd say. Theres a lot of unis with radiography courses now. Having said that, I've yet to meet a radiographer who was unemployed for more than 5 months. Everyone gets a job and demand in some parts of Australia are high. I know Vic and NSW have some pretty decent demand, but WA and SA have particularly higher ones.
3)So salary id say as an intern and first year, not too great, nothing to write home about, but it gets better as you go along. I personally preferred my public pay, but you work harder for it, the instances of working overtime,on call and on public holidays are much more frequent and likely. In the private setting not as much.Private does pay more, but at the end of the day it kinda evens out mostly. Depends where you are i guess.
so it's an undergrad degree as minimum requirement?
Not really, some of my friends came from a science course to radiography. And I mean they did one year of it and transferred. Most unis have different requirements though and they do change from time to time. When I applied i needed a 92+ ATAR, now im not too sure if thats still the case. If youre interested definitely check out an open day of the uni you wanna go to. I've volunteered for those open days when I was still studying and I can say that thats probably the most informal yet informative ways to find out more!
do you ever wonder if you don't stand behind the protective screen you will end up like Bruce Banner?
I pray for it.
Is this a good bargain?
Do you look like this at work?
Is there any risk of being the Hisashi Ouchi of Australia in radiology?
I liked your OK computer album btw
Wow Ive never seen that before. I mean it wont help with xrays I dont think, but hey fashions fashion. You do you.
God no, in radiography we're all highly trained in the amount of radiation we give to each person. The amount of radiation you guys get from xrays are usually the lowest I can give you whilst still getting a good projection. You can have faith in us in that aspect. I've yet to hear of a recent incident where a patient was overexposed and actually received radiation sickness from it. But yeah Ive never heard of this story and just reading 17 sieverts to a person is insane. Thats nutty.
Thanks I appreciate that.I liked it too.
Do you find your job stimulating day to day? I have heard from a number of (ex) radiographers who left because the nature of the job was too boring.
Umm for me personally its hit or miss. It depends on what type of person you are and what you were after in this career. I know a fair amount of people who do radiography because they couldnt get into medicine. I was one of those people, but I started enjoying myself and liking it as i went a long. In the public emergency setting, I found that environment to be the most stimulating, theres always something going on, theres always somewhere that needs a hand with their patient. Private not as much, i do get huge gaps in my day where I sit around and do nothing. But i enjoy xray, people see it as work, i see it as an art. Getting the perfect xrays on the most difficult situations is the most rewarding feeling for me. So yeah I do get bored now and then but when im doing my work Im loving it.
Good to hear dude! :)
Last few xrays I've had in public hospitals have been taken locally, but then sent overseas for evaluation, instead of (or in addition to, not sure) being viewed by the treating doctor. What are your thoughts on this practice?
I wouldnt know personally whyd they send your xrays overseas. However some of the reasons they might do that is that when they plan to create a prosthesis or a hip replacement that kinda thing, they send it to a company overseas who then plans it out, makes their measurements and ships the actual product to your surgeon. Most of the time its CT scans and not xrays though. But a common misconception that patients seem to have is that doctors and GPs can read all scans and xrays. Not all doctors can and not all of them are particulary exceptional at it either. I said in a previous comment theres a whole set of doctors who specialise in interpreting imaging, so whenever you see your gp, more often than not they dont even look at your xrays unless theyve asked for it. What happens is I take your xray, it gets put on our extremely private and secure server for our radiologist to interpret. Usually its a local or on-site one, but i guess some places would do it overseas in some cases. Anyways radiologist interprets it, and dictates it. The dictations are then sent to a typographer and they just listen to the dictation and type it out. The typed out dictation is then again sent to the original radiologist so he can check and sign it off. Once all thats done its faxed to your gp. More often then not, the gp just reads the report and either asks for xrays as well to show you what he means or just tells you what the report says and goes from there. Not to take anything away from the GP though, those guys are doing incredible work. However thats a really broad thing ive told you. I cant speak for all GPs, but yeah a lot of the time we're just faxing a report and nothing else. So i dont have huge issue with sending things overseas, what that means is that they wanted to send the xrays to someone who specialises in interpreting it. Alternatively it could also mean they wanted a second opinion. However if your treating dr isnt a gp, like someone who specialises in orthopaedic or endo, more likely that guys got your xrays and stuff on hand with the report as well. Dont fret too much over it.
My former colleagues in the public system told me that even x-rays can be sent anywhere in The world to be reported. This is especially the case after hours. It saves call out fees etc as somewhere in the world, People are on duty.
This is how some health services choose to save money. It is also quite common for all X-rays in regional Qld. The radiologists ars not in the area and it is cheaper for the health service. Where I was working, they were mostly sent to someone on the Gold Coast.
Yeah and you're not wrong that can also be a reason you'd send it overseas. In some places they don't have a radiologist on site so they'll send it to a place that does. At most for me it was sending it to another sister hospital that was still in state though. I believe there are even apps for doctors to talk to each other abt xrays and just work overall. But yes you're right that is definitely a reason I missed.
Is it true that the equipment manufacturers spend their marketing budgets simply splashing cash (and future jobs) at radiographers and what are the formal rules on accepting manufacturer 'gifts'.
Oh thats a pretty good question actually.
I havent seen a lot of instances of them throwing cash at us, but I have seen a ton of marketers trying to sell me super hard on stuff that are like "we dont need this that badly…" .Luxury stuff if you will. However I have seen representatives be extra nice to us, with the sole intention of "favouring" their products. In this instance its usually when we do interventional procedures like angiography cases and stuff. I recall a rep coming up to me and my colleague being like
"Hey for the next case I believe you wanted to use X product, I recommend this one though."
"Uhh… why? X product does the job perfectly fine… whats the benefit of yours?"
"Oh it does this and this. ANyways ill come back for when you guys need me, do you guys want coffee anything ill buy." (They always buy and offer things)
Sometimes they visit with food, clearly to be a "hey you like me, i like you, lets have a working relationship between your dept and my products". However in terms of gifts from manufacturers and patients. it depends on what it is. Little token things like bookmarks, food, pens and whatever, perfectly fine. Anything that becomes major or affecting the work environment needs consultation with the boss. For example, if i did your xray and you offered me a bookmark as thanks i can accept that with no issue. It affects no one and changes nothing. However if you offered me a new piece of equipment that might not do anything, i still need to ask my boss and get approval.
Im not 100% sure if that answers your question though sorry. Lol.
Great, thank you.
Why is the MRI scanner so claustrophobic, does it have to be a narrow tunnel?
Oh thats a really good question. Unfortuantely I havent had MRI training yet so I might not be able to answer the question too well. I have had some lectures about it though. So essentially there are 3 types of MRI machines, closed. open and wide bore. Closed bores are what youre talking about, the narrow tunnel and loud machine. Open is basically 2 sides being free and the other sides being the machine. Finally wide is what the closed bore is but like its name suggests its a wider tunnel. So the closed bores are much louder but also have the highest image fidelity and the strongest magnets. So like 1.5 to 3T most frequently. Open although less claustrophobic are the weaker ones. Not entirely sure to what strength but i think its less than 1T usually. Could be wrong. Wide bores are also considerably weaker than the closed bore tunnels, however as technology progresses we are getting some really high strength wide bore MRIs. Having said that, MRI machines are crazy expensive. Its a huge investment for either a clinic or hospital to have one. Thats why its usually quite hard to get an MRI appt and why its expensive. So a lot of MRI machines are the older tech, meaning its a closed and narrow bore, but the image quality is bloody amazing. I always get so impressed looking at MRI scans. The narrowness allows for that higher image quality. But again a ton of places are just using older machines or second hand ones cos buying a new one is just so expensive. Again I could be wrong, I havent had MRI training yet, but that was my understanding of it during uni.
A strong uniform magnetic field needs to be created to provide the correct readings for calculations for the computer.
The bigger it is the harder it is to produce that field with the amount of energy the grid can supply.
Meaning if it doesn’t provide accurate or strong readings then the picture quality won’t be good enough to show necessary anatomy.
Sorry to hijack :)
Do you also get involved in ultrasound, as I recently had one for the lower bowel area and the on screen images the operator viewed with me looked remarkably like an X-Ray image. Apparently the local hospital had new high resolution ultrasound equipment installed. As a retired industrial photographer and a bit used to viewing digital images, these new images were so much more detailed with better contrast and definition. The operator had this machine for one week at the time of my consultation, and finding his way around the new imager.
Is this going to be the way forward, with less done via X-rays?.
So Ultrasound is apart of radiography but it requires extra study and doing another course whats youre done with radiography. I havent had any real interest in US, at least not at this stage. Personally I dont see xrays being phased out anytime soon. Ultrasound is great for anything soft tissue, and it does show some bone, but not too great. CT is amazing for bone and soft tissue, but not as great as MRI is. Having said that MRI gets tricky, if you have metal in your body, claustrophobia or just cant afford MRI, then its not really an option. In the case of CT it is a higher dose modality, so more often than not, Xray more than enough to tell the story. I do think that as technology progresses some things are moving away from xray being the straight away thing to do, but its still got a place in healthcare. I think of it as, we want to know if you broke your arm, can i tell how bad it is from xray? yes? than xray it is. CT would be a bit much imo unless there were significant complications.
Would you be able to look at my x-ray?
I have visited two doctors, but they seem to be giving different responses.
Ah this would be the thing where id say i probably cant. Doctors are much better trained to look at xrays than I am, also legally I cant discuss that with you. On top of that I did a research study about sharing xrays and medical imaging online (With the exception of private and secure healthcare services), and lets say the results were pretty bad. My general opinion is if youve seen two doctors about your xray and theyre both very different responses, its always a good idea to ask them if it might be worthwhile to do another test. I mean let the doctor youre most likely going to see again and say hey i saw another doctor for a 2nd opinion and it was really different, what do u recommend to do, should i have another test or scan? Good Luck though, sorry I couldnt be much help!
What's your opinion on chiros?
Oh interesting, I dont get asked this a lot.
So in terms of the work that Chiros give us, its not too bad, its tedious though. More often than not, youll see a chiro because your lower back hurts, most gps would then refer you to a lumbar spine xray or sometimes CT/MRI. Usually thats it. Chiros will ask for your whole spine to be xrayed. So every now and then ill get a pt who has no idea why im xraying everything and why im taking so many pictures of the area thats not sore. Well… your chiro wanted it and signed off on it. I think there is a place for chiros. I mean they definitely can help with back pain and what not if you want to avoid interventional procedures, but honestly i think in a lot of cases, seeing a gp is probably a better end all solution. I probably cant say much else than that without getting into some sort of trouble lol. But i think the opinion that most doctors have on chiros is pretty much held by most people in healthcare. If that helps answer your question.
Hi,
I'm currently in my second year studying Radiography at RMIT. Thoroughly enjoying it so far, especially the anatomy and biology units. However, i found the learning curve for practical assessments quite steep in 1st years due to limited practice as i only had a few labs to prepare for them whereas other students have uni labs+2weeks clinical placements to refine their skills in prep for the practical assessments (my placement was allocated in Novemeber after all assessments+exams lol).
Do you think clinical placements are absolutely essential for practical assessments? My course coordinator advised me placements are just there so you can gauge whether you enjoy the course or not, and you don't actually do any real learning.
Do you think MRI concepts are hard to learn? I'm about to learn this in 3rd year, and a lot of past students mention this unit as the stumbling block.I've had Monash students claim its abstractly difficult where they only passed due to practicing with past exams without thoroughly understanding it.
As a past student, do you have any tips in regards to the course and what i can do to maximise my potential?
I've also heard from a radiographer that in private practice, you have the opportunity to learn CT/MRI/US within a few years, whereas in the public system, you are placed in the long queue(3-5years) to learn US for example.
I've also seen radiographers in the public system talking down on other radiographers in the private system, as the public systems gives more experience in both trauma+normal patients, whereas private workers would struggle with trauma patients. Whats your opinion on this?
Oh wow i came from monash so youre not too far away from how i studied. So my opinion of placements is that its the perfect place for you to hone your skills. My personal opinion is that I assume every student i receive is either bad or has significant gaps in knowledge. From there on i observe your skill, what to fix what to improve and what youre doing good. Some students impress me from the get go, some are fine, some need work. I find placements perfect for you guys to figure these out. Last thing you want to do is to become an intern and struggle with bread and butter xrays. On top of that, placements is like your resume. You wanna establish at each placements that you're good, you can cooperate and work in a team and most important, you want to learn. I've had lots of conversations with other staff where we go "I want them back as an intern" or "they were fine but so and so was better. I like that person more". So even though placements isnt long, definitely work your hardest and show them your stuff. But on the contrary, dont be too arrogant, honestly find that middle ground where youre confident but eager to learn. Thats what everyone is looking for.
Yeah i find myself to be a math person, someone whos good with numbers and physics. MRI was a huge step for me.Theres a lot of physics to understand and grasp. Things i didnt quite understand on my first 2 run throughs. Or my 5th lol. And thats entirely true, a lot of us made it through past exams. Not ideal, but some of us passed like that. I tried to understand it, i struggled ridiculously. Best advice i can give you for MRI is try your best to understand the basics of it, and go from there. Finding time to talk to your lecturer about it is also an amazing idea.
SO like i said before, dont take placements too lightly. Try your hardest, try to enjoy your time, but show them the good stuff. It doesnt hurt to do volunteer work and to have had some sort of part time job. Best thing I can think of is really try to take in what you learn, cos even though i dont use all the physics and anatomy ive learnt at uni, I do use a considerable amount of it in my decision making. I tend to find the more you know about these the better radiographer. Well thats also on top of experience but you catch my drift.
Thats a common thought, I do kinda believe that on average the radiographers in public have better decision making and adaptability. Both of which are tremendously important. However private radiographers tend to have a better positioning atlas and have more supplementary skills. For example when i worked public, I could do basically any basic xray on any patient without breaking a sweat. Piano stool shoulders? No problem. Supine oblique c spines? EASY AS! But when i moved private it was like, what the hell is this xray and why is it called that. And i had to learn to cannulate and do this and this, public its not as important to know how to cannulate, but some do. In terms of career id say that at least where I was, getting to CT and angio werent difficult, there is a queue but it wasnt too long. Private pretty much has that same idea, we need to get you through ct, but after this person. Its just apparent that private they have less staff to run through.
My advice for you. During placements find which work flow suits you, what hospital you liked and work towards that.
Thanks for your advice!
I certainly loved the placements i've been to so far. It's not all button mashing as I once imagined, as I needed to adapt to different patients, i.e overweight or big atheletic guys with big lungs, etc. I'm a perfectionist by nature so i try to take perfect xrays everytime but it aint easy with people coming in different shapes and sizes haha.
My lecturers have all told me its tough to get a intern metro position now unless you are really good as Deakin are now offering the course aswell, increasing supply. Is there still demand for radiographers in metro areas?
Most radiographers that have supervised me pretty much can do xray/CT mainly, and MRI/US is a another step in terms of difficulty im assuming.
Yeah im a perfectionist too, but I always like to implant into my students. THeres nothing wrong with repeating an xray, but only if you know how to fix it. But yeah itll come with time. I wasnt really particularly good until my intern year, which is where i started getting more hands on with everything and kinda just doing everything a bit easier.
Yeah definitely, i mean it is harder, hes not wrong, but its still do able. I mean most places will hire every year and pick up their interns. Hell a ton of places are still pretty much understaffed.
Yep, so most rads go through xray and ct naturally, maybe angio and fluoro if you have it. So me personally ive trained in all the above. However US and MRI requires different things. US requires additional study and a course, whereas MRI requires an actual position. Usually the hospital or company will advertise an MRI position, but it almost always goes internal.
Have you ever rejected a request for a scan? I've had a few situations where I felt the radiographers were being difficult. The latest one that comes to mind was someone who came off a motorbike and had shoulder pain. A quick exam for medical triage, it looked unlikely fracture despite point tenderness but I wanted to rule it out. The radiographer called me to say she had examined him and found no clinical indication for an x-ray. I was too busy to argue but on reflection… Is that a call that radiographers feel comfortable making? I agree it was unlikely but that risk stratification and decision making is my job. What are your thoughts?
So I don't quite know the circumstances that the rad in your case experienced, but there are some reasons why I'd reject a pt. If the pt is aggressive or hostile I will, they refuse the x-ray or if for whatever reason the x-ray you asked for isn't possible in the patients current circumstance. So some doctors will request a certain projection or x-rays in certain positions. In some cases you just can't do it because the patient is too unwell or unfit for the imaging. Having said that I usually called the doctor first and would say hey you asked for this I can't really do it because of so and so reasons. Usually the doctor would go okay yeah fair or hey do your best but I get it. I guess the other reason is that what you've written for clinical notes and what x-rays you asked for don't quite match what the patient is discussing with us. Again I'd usually call first though. But yeah I'm not sure what the circumstances were in your case though.
How much dose do you receive per year? Or what is the average for a radiographer?
That's a really vague and broad question because really some rads don't even work x-ray anymore and would mostly be in MRI or us or something like that. On top of that it's different per rad. I can say for myself I had 0 readings in my first year or so. In my 2nd I had .05msv (if I recall) which I believe the max you're allowed per year is 20. I'll need to double check cos I'm just drawing a blank right now on annual dose.
Thanks, I thought it would be much higher.
You have to remember, when i do your xray im behind a lead lined wall and window. Ive had training and lectures on protecting myself from radiation. Its not like we're all out there just zapping ourselves.
I get an x-ray basically every time I go to the dentist, ie once/twice a year.
Any issue with brain cancer or something?
No not really. Like another user has written, dental xrays are really low dose. There is always a risk with radiation, but its very very improbable. I mean, less than .01% and I might be being generous. On average a chest xray is about .06 or .07 msv. The maximum allowable per year is 20msv. However, you get more radiation than a chest xray from a return flight from melbourne to London. Just going on a plane trip can potentially give you more radiation.
Its been a while since ive had an xray or anything involving radiation and imaging. Last time i was scheduled to have a brain scan and when i called up 3 separate bensons facilities to ask about radiation exposure levels for my intended scan, i got wildly different figures about exposure levels from 3 different sources.
Is it me (or lack of exposure (see what i did there) to being xrayed, mri'd etc) or are radiation exposure levels and risks not really passed on to the patients. Or is it all in fine print on some document you sign?
Also, would you mind explaining exposure levels from xrays and mris and how it affects cancer risks and or a comparison of scan level exposures compared to a deadly level of exposure? Sorry if my explaining is horrible.
Would like to know this as well. Visited a new dentist at my usual practice and she accidentally used the same film twice, so I ended up needing 4 x-rays instead of 2, which really pissed me off.
Shouldn't be an issue with repeating dental or extremity xrays,as the radiation dose is very small. Something like Ct scans, gives more radiation dose and generally is only taken when absolutely required for medical purposes. For example, if you have cancer, you would need radiation machines to treat the cancer, and the radiation levels are adjusted in a way to minimise side effects.
Thanks, that's reassuring.
Okay so, the thing most people dont understand is that there is no set radiation that i give to a person for each examination. And if you think about it, it makes sense. Why would i give the same amount of radiation for a person who came in for a finger xray in comparison to a person whos here for their shoulder. Both parts of the body are completely different in densities. On top of that I also have to consider the patient size. The denser and bigger you are ill need more energy to back up the exposure. Conversely tiny or skinny people I can afford to drop it down. On top of that, sometimes the amount of radiation im giving depends on how many projections I need to do as per our protocol or your referring doctor. Sometimes doctors want very specific and specialized images that we dont normally do. And not even just those variables, but some machines are more sensitive to radiation than others. So calling the three places and asking for exposure levels, you honestly would get no where, like youve discovered. I dont know how big you are, i dont know what im specifically scanning, because even though you might say head, the protocol for us and the technique might be different. The machines in each place were also most likely different brands and overall different in manufacture. At most all anyone could do is give you the average or an estimate prior to scanning.
In some instances, you showing up and asking for your xray is essentially the fine print. If you were sincerely concerned about the radiation, and the levels of exposure, I am more than happy to explain it as best and as simply as I can. It gets difficult to make every patient sign a form about whether or not theyre happy to get radiation or an xray, but youve essentially provided consent by just showing up. There are instances where i do get you to sign a consent form, but they are usually very specific circumstances.
So like ive written prior, the maximum amount that Im allowed to receive per year is 20msv. A chest xray provides on average .06 or .07 I couldnt be too sure. In general there has been little to no evidence that anyone whos received less than 10msv of radiation experienced any sort of harm. Its highly unlikely. Also im trained to give you the least amount of radiation that I can whilst still providing good imaging. Thats why i take into account so many things when i do your xray. Size, density, area and even age.
I hope ive explained that in some sort of coherent manner, i literally just woke up from a nap lol.
In relation to the brain scan scenario above (CT I would assume), there are definitely set radiation factors for that particular examinations, especially with paediatric patients (I literally have to modify a set exposure which will differ for a 12 year old and 13 year old patient). If a patient or referrer calls up my work place to ask about radiation dose exposure for themselves/their patients before coming in, I would be able tell them where my institution / CT scanner stands in relation to the AUS dose reference levels set by ARPANSA (The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency).
There is plenty of info online from ARPANSA and RANZCR (Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologist) and you should be able to get info either off your supervisor (I would hope) or simply off your CT scanner to educate yourself to have these discussions comfortably (Y)
Happy scanning!
Hi EdenKai,
I am thinking of changing careers, and have been looking into healthcare professions, such as occupational therapy, exercise physiology and radiography.
I would like to know, if it is difficult for radiography grads to get employment, compared to other healthcare professions, especially in metro areas ?
What's the most outrageous thing you've x-rayed?
Doesn't have to be in a person or have a person involved.