Why are most lateral shots left lateral?

invictus515 · Joined: 29 Jan 2010 Posts: 3

I'm currently a first year student and our Clinical Instructor posed this question to us and we weren't sure of the answer.

I know for lateral chests, it's to decrease magnification of the heart, but why do you use a left lateral for everything else (such as L-Spine)?

Thank you.

Smooth23 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 30 Location: Michigan

Good question. I've posed that one even to my instructor and gotten no clear answer besides about it being standard. I will say that most things are easier to position a person into a left lateral than a right, simply because of the way the x-ray machines and tables are set up.