Chest X-rays are used to diagnose lung disease, pleural disease, and rib disease.
Chest X-rays are commonly used in thoracic surgery and respiratory medicine. Many lung diseases can show up as distinctly different features on an X-ray. Moreover, on the image of X-ray, because of the low density of lung tissue, almost any lesion in any part of the body can be shown on X-ray. Infectious diseases like pneumonia, tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, etc., are often judged by X-ray to determine the progress of the disease or the condition of the patient.
Pleural diseases mainly refer to pleural effusion and pneumothorax, because the lung tissue is soft and low-density, and lesions in the pleural cavity will also show up because they affect the lung tissue.
Rib disease refers to rib fractures, and the fracture site and fracture can be seen very clearly on X-ray.