In the study in the left nipple position
In the study in the left nipple position (the subject stands obliquely, adjacent to the screen by the area of the left nipple), four lung fields are visible, separated from each other by the sternum with a cardiovascular shadow and vertebral column: of the lung, 2) retrosternal – between the upper part of the sternum and the anterior contour of the aortic arch, 3) retrocardial – between the posterior contour of the heart and the aorta (“aortic window”) and 4) the retrovertebral field located behind the spinal column .
Anterior, facing the sternum contour of the cardiovascular shadow is formed in the upper part of the right atrium, in the lower part – the right ventricle. The posterior contour of the cardiovascular silhouette facing the spinal column corresponds at the top to the left atrium, at the bottom to the left ventricle. Thus, in this position, each atrium is located above its ventricle, with the right heart (relative to the subject) located on the right and the left on the left, which is easy to remember.
In the study in the right nipple position (the subject stands obliquely, adjacent to the screen by the area of the right nipple), the posterior contour is formed at the top by the ascending aorta, then by the left atrium and at the bottom by the right atrium and inferior vena cava; anterior contour – ascending part of the aorta, pulmonary trunk and left ventricle.
The age-related changes of the x-ray image of the heart are expressed in the following.
In newborns, the cardiovascular shadow occupies almost the middle position; the heart is relatively larger than in adults, mainly due to its right half. The shape of the heart approaches the spherical, the lower arc sharply convex; “Waist” smoothed. With age, there is a relative decrease in the cardiovascular shadow and moving it to the left. In old age, owing to the elongation of the aorta, the waist becomes sharper; the apex of the heart as if bulging, separating from the dome of the diaphragm. A characteristic appearance of the senile heart is lengthening and curvature of the aorta, which in its ascending part projects to the right (forming the bulge of the upper arch of the right contour), and bulging in the arcus aortae to the left (forming the bulge of the upper arc of the left contour).