Contrast - Barium Sulfate - Video Lesson

Hey, everybody. Welcome back. This video is about barium sulfate, one of the most common contrast agents used in medical imaging. Baryam is an ideal element for a contrast agent because it has an atomic number of fifty six. Fifty six is much, much higher than the atomic numbers for the main elements making up the human body. So why does the atomic number matter? With a high atomic number, barium attenuates much more radiation than tissue. And therefore, the presence of barium creates more contrast in the images. By itself, barium would be very toxic to the body. So barium is attached to a sulfate molecule, and it becomes barium sulfate. Barium sulfate is what we call a suspension. Which means that the molecules are simply hanging in the contrast solution, but not actually dissolved into the fluid. Unlike iodinated contrast agents, barium