1. Understanding COPD Slideshow
2. COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) Quiz
3. Energy Foods for COPD Slideshow Pictures

Medical Author:

Siamak T. Nabili, MD, MPH

Siamak T. Nabili, MD, MPH

Dr. Nabili received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), majoring in chemistry and biochemistry. He then completed his graduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His graduate training included a specialized fellowship in public health where his research focused on environmental health and health-care delivery and management.

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Medical Editor:

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.

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As mentioned earlier, the image on chest X-ray film is in shades of black and white, similar to a negative of a regular photograph. The shadows on a chest X-ray test depend on the degree of absorbed radiation by the particular organ based on its composition. Bony structures absorb the most radiation and appear white on the film. Hollow structures containing mostly air, such the lungs, normally appear dark. In a normal chest X-ray, the chest cavity is outlined on each side by the white bony structures that represent the ribs of the chest wall. On the top portion of the chest is the neck and the collar bones (clavicles). On the bottom, the chest cavity is bordered by the diaphragm under which is the abdominal cavity. On either side of the chest wall, the bones of the shoulders and arms are easily recognizable.

Inside the chest cavity, the vertebral column can be seen down the middle of the chest, splitting it nearly in equal halves. On each side of the midline, the dark appearing lung fields are seen. The white shadow of the heart is in the middle of the field, atop the diaphragm and more to the left side. The trachea (wind pipe), aorta (main blood vessel exiting the heart), and the esophagus descend down the middle, overlapping the vertebral column.

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