barium
n. uncountablen. a soft, silver-white metal that is used in medicine to help doctors see your stomach and intestines on an X-ray. It is also used in some types of glass and paint.
n. a soft, silvery-white alkaline earth metal with the atomic number 56. In medical contexts, it refers to a suspension of barium sulfate used as a contrast agent for radiographic imaging of the gastrointestinal tract.
The doctor asked me to drink the barium before the X-ray.
During the upper gastrointestinal series, the patient ingests a barium solution to allow the radiologist to track the movement of food through the stomach.
While elemental barium is highly reactive and toxic, its sulfate compound is inert and non-toxic, making it the preferred substance for diagnostic imaging procedures that require a dense, opaque contrast medium.
Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1808, from baryta + -ium.