Ever wonder why your doctor recommended that you see a radiologist to get a diagnostic imaging exam? Providers order these procedures whenever they want to understand better what is happening inside a patient’s body—without doing surgery.

If your physician thinks that you might have a specific condition, disease, or injury, sometimes they can use your imaging results to strengthen their diagnosis. With this added information, your care team can provide a more personalized treatment plan to help you.

The type of imaging exam that most people are familiar with is an X-ray, but there are many other varieties, and each is used for different purposes.

Read on to find out more about X-rays and other common types of imaging exams. Plus, learn the typical reasons why doctors order them.

You have probably seen it before... a social media post highlighting colorectal cancer awareness month. Did that Facebook post encourage you to get a colonoscopy? Chances are, probably not. The fear and myths associated with colonoscopies tend to shy people away from getting the very necessary screening that could save their life. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in both men and women, and more than half of those cases could be prevented with proper screening. 

Bacteria are microscopic organisms that can affect your health. Some are good for your body. Other germs can make you sick.

One much-talked about types of live bacteria is probiotics. These complex microbes have garnered a lot of positive press for their ability to make you healthier and even they affect your mood.

They live inside your digestive system and help it run smoothly by lending a hand to your gut. They do so by breaking down nutrients so that your body can use them. Generally considered safe, probiotics have many day-to-day benefits. They can also provide benefits after you have surgery.

Read on to learn more about what researchers know about probiotics and their ability to improve surgical outcomes.

Even though it’s a common cancer screening procedure, it’s completely normal to wonder about what will happen after you get a colonoscopy.

Most people between the ages of 50 and 75 will only need to get a colonoscopy once every five or ten years. Whether it’s your first time or it’s been a few years, here’s a primer on what to expect after a colonoscopy.

What is an endoscopy? In the most simple terms, an endoscopy is a test that helps your doctor learn more about what’s going on inside your body.

An upper endoscopy specifically is a highly-accurate, nonsurgical procedure used to investigate problems related to your digestive health that is used to identify the presence of polyps, cancerous tumors, ulcers, inflammation, and other damage to your stomach or digestive tract.

In some instances, the procedure is more effective for detecting abnormalities and problems in the upper digestive system than X-rays and other types of imaging.

Keep reading to learn more about what happens during an upper endoscopy and what the procedure can detect.