Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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Please find information on our services and visiting restrictions in our COVID-19 section.

Patients and visitors must wear a face covering in our hospitals.

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Radiology

Radiologists are clinicians who use different types of medical diagnostic imaging methods to diagnose patients and help other doctors treat them.

Medical diagnostic imaging is used in nearly all areas of medicine, from general practice to surgery, obstetrics, orthopaedics and even psychiatry.

Radiology is provided on all of the Trust's sites:

Medical imaging methods include:

  • ionising radiation
  • X-rays
  • computer tomography (CT)
    the use of energy waves to build three dimensional images of the body
  • magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
    the use of a powerful magnetic field to create images of the body
  • ultrasound scanning
    the use of sound waves to create images of the body
  • nuclear medicine
    the use of radioactive decay to create images, by giving patients 'radiopharmaceuticals' that collect in the relevant area of the body: used to study the physiology and metabolism of the body rather than the anatomy.

Interventional radiology is a specialist branch of medical imaging that uses therapeutic devices, inserted and guided by high-resolution imaging, to treat a wide range of conditions, thus avoiding operations.

For more information about radiological procedures, please visit the Royal College of Radiologists:

Royal College of Radiologists virtual department

For more information about our Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering please visit their website:

Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering