Tubes, catheters and other medical devices on chest radiography

Abstract

Conventional chest radiography is routinely used to check the position of many medical devices, also allowing us to identify a bunch of complications related to them. Mostly in the critically ill patients with cardiovascular support or mechanical ventilation, chest radiography is important in the evaluation of endotracheal tubes, alimentary probes, vascular catheters and thoracic tubes. The correct interpretation of findings related to these devices is essential, as many of the complications can be clinically missed. Other medical devices superposed to the chest wall should be correctly identified for avoiding misinterpretations leading to incorrect diagnoses like intrathoracic strange bodies or other lesions. In this article, it will be presented some of the imaging aspects of the main probes, catheters and devices (vascular and non-vascular), discussing the correct positioning and some of the complications that can be found in chest radiography.