Radiology reports carry their own vocabulary, and a term that is obvious to a radiologist can slow a technician or a new graduate down. This glossary covers the words used in reports, on the platform and across the imaging modalities RadsForVets interprets.
- ACVR
- The American College of Veterinary Radiology, the certifying body for veterinary radiologists in North America. A radiologist who has completed an approved residency and passed the certifying examination is a Diplomate, written DACVR.
- Artifact
- Anything in an image that comes from the equipment, the positioning or the patient rather than the anatomy itself. Motion blur, grid lines, scatter and metallic streak are common examples, and recognizing them keeps a normal structure from being read as disease.
- Attenuation
- How much a tissue reduces the x-ray beam passing through it. Bone attenuates strongly and appears white, gas attenuates weakly and appears black, and everything else falls between.
- Board-certified radiologist
- A veterinarian who has completed a residency in diagnostic imaging and passed the certifying examination of the ACVR or the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging (ECVDI). Every RadsForVets case is read by an ACVR- or ECVDI-certified radiologist.
- Contrast study
- An imaging study performed after a contrast agent is given, so that vessels, organs or the gastrointestinal tract stand out from surrounding tissue.
- CT (computed tomography)
- Cross-sectional imaging that acquires a volume of x-ray images and reconstructs it into thin images in any plane. It is the study of choice for skull, nasal, thoracic, spinal and complex orthopedic questions where superimposition limits radiographs.
- DICOM
- Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine, the standard file format and transfer protocol for medical images. Submitting original DICOM files rather than screenshots or exported photographs preserves the full diagnostic quality of a study.
- Differential diagnosis
- The ranked list of conditions that could explain the imaging findings. A report that ranks the differentials tells the attending veterinarian which possibility to pursue first.
- Echogenicity
- An Ultrasound term describing how brightly a tissue reflects sound waves. Tissues are described as hyperechoic, hypoechoic or anechoic relative to a reference organ.
- ECVDI
- The European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging, the European equivalent of the ACVR. Its Diplomates are written DECVDI.
- Findings
- The descriptive part of a radiology report: what the radiologist observes in each region examined, written objectively and without interpretation.
- Fluoroscopy
- Real-time moving x-ray imaging, used for dynamic questions such as tracheal collapse, swallowing studies and contrast transit. It shows how a structure behaves over time rather than in a single frozen moment.
- Impression
- The radiologist's conclusion: the prioritized diagnoses and recommendations drawn from the findings. RadsForVets reports place the impression near the top so the clinical answer is the first thing read.
- Modality
- A category of imaging equipment or technique. RadsForVets interprets x-ray, Ultrasound, CT, MR and fluoroscopy studies.
- MR (magnetic resonance)
- Imaging that uses a magnetic field and radio waves rather than ionizing radiation, producing superior soft tissue detail. It is the primary modality for brain, spinal cord and many soft tissue questions.
- PACS
- Picture Archiving and Communication System, the software a practice uses to store, view and send imaging studies.
- PIMS
- Practice Information Management System, the software that holds patient records, orders and invoices. RadsForVets injects completed reports into the matching radiology order in ezyVet and Instinct, and is constantly adding to that list of PIMS systems.
- Radiograph
- The correct term for an x-ray image. A radiographic study normally includes at least two orthogonal views of the region of interest.
- Real-Time Chat
- The per-study chat on the RADical platform. Each case carries separate threads for the clinic and radiologist, the clinic and Operations Team, and the radiologists and Operations Team, so a question reaches the reading radiologist in seconds without a phone call, voicemail or email chain.
- Standard
- The routine submission priority, returned within 24 hours, for cases where the patient is stable and the plan can wait for the comprehensive report.
- STAT
- The urgent submission priority. STAT x-ray and fluoroscopy studies are returned in 1 hour, and STAT CT, MR and Ultrasound studies within 4 hours.
- Teleradiology
- The practice of transmitting imaging studies electronically to a radiologist who interprets them remotely and returns a written report, giving any practice access to specialist interpretation regardless of location.
- Ultrasound
- Imaging that uses high-frequency sound waves to show soft tissue structure and movement in real time, without ionizing radiation. It is the workhorse for abdominal, cardiac and soft tissue questions.
- Wet Read
- A submission priority where the clinic sends targeted, indication-specific questions that the radiologist addresses directly. The clinic can request that the radiologist either make a call or send a Wet Read report, and the same radiologist provides the comprehensive final report before shift's end.
- Window and level
- The display settings that control which range of tissue densities a cross-sectional study shows. The same CT images look completely different in bone, soft tissue and lung windows, which is why radiologists review originals rather than exported pictures.
Looking for something more detailed? The practice guides work through submission, image quality and provider selection step by step, and the FAQs answer the questions clinics ask most often.