X-ray contrast media are necessary to create an artificial contrast between the organ to be diagnosed and the surrounding tissue. It is based on a non-toxic solution that contains a significant proportion of elements with a high atomic number, for example iodine. When X-rays hit iodine in a contrast medium, the area appears white on the X-ray film and therefore highlights the detail of the organ it has permeated.

An X-Ray Device directs electromagnetic radiation upon a specified region in the body. This radiation tends to pass through less dense matter and absorbed or scattered by denser materials . In Film-Screen Radiography, radiation which has passed through a patient then strikes a cassette containing a screen of fluorescent phosphors and exposes x-ray film. Areas of film exposed to higher amounts of radiation will appear as black or grey on X-ray film while areas exposed to less radiation will appear lighter or white. In Computed Radiography (CR), the x-rays passing through the patient strike a sensitized plate which is then read and digitized into a computer image by a separate machine. In Digital Radiography the x-rays strike a plate of x-ray sensors producing a digital computer image directly.