PREPARING FOR A CHEST X-RAY AND WHAT IT INVOLVES
Chest X-rays produce images of your heart, lungs, blood vessels, airways, and the bones of the chest and spine. Chest X-rays can also reveal fluid in or around your lungs or air surrounding a lung.
If you go to a health professional or the emergency room with chest pain, a chest injury or shortness of breath, you will typically get a chest X-ray. The image helps determine whether you have heart problems, a collapsed lung, pneumonia, broken ribs, emphysema, cancer or any of several other conditions.
Some people have a series of chest X-rays done over time to track whether a health problem is getting better or worse.