Question: "What is a radiologist?"

Answer:  A radiologists is a highly trained physician who utilizes the latest medical technologies to diagnose illness and direct medical care.

Diagnostic Radiology:

• Radiologists are the only doctors who are specially trained to interpret medical images which include x-rays, ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In doing so, radiologists are able to provide other physicians with lifesaving information about their patients. Because of this essential relationship, radiologists have often been referred to as, “A doctor’s doctor.”
• Radiologists are central to patient care and their expertise is indispensible in every medical subspecialty. 

Interventional Radiology:

• Radiologists are also trained to perform minimally invasive image guided surgical procedures such as biopsies, paracentesis, thoracentesis, myelogram, lumbar puncture, kyphoplasty, vertebroplasty,  vascular surgery including aneurysm repair, uterine fibroid embolism, as well as many different infection and cancer treatments.
• Most patients will not see their radiologist unless there is a question or if the radiologist is performing a procedure.

Who is the person who takes my x-ray?

• The people who take your x-ray, MRI, CT, etc are technologists.
• Radiology technologists have completed separate training but did not go to medical school.
• Radiology technologists are not doctors or radiologists.
• However, sometimes a radiologist will help a technologist to obtain medical images.