Medical Imaging

Medical imaging has come a long way and continues to advance. The field is ever changing and improving and “refers to the technique and process used to create images of the human body” (Wikipedia). The purpose of medical imaging is to reveal or diagnose a disease or body function (pregnancy). Medical imaging started in the early 1900’s after the development of x-rays by Professor Roentgen. Another device used was a medium that contrasted certain areas of the body to allow doctors to view blood vessels and other organs more easily. Usually this substance contained radiation to be visible under x-rays and was first experimented with in 1912. This process is still used today although the radiation is minute and most of the substance is excreted. Radiology and x-rays became very popular in the Second World War to diagnose and treat injuries that occurred on the battlefield. At this time film cassettes were used to store images. The process however was long and arduous and could take as long as 10 minutes to get a proper image. As time went on x-rays became faster and the resolution increased making the images clearer and more readable. Fluorescent screens were the next major development in medical imaging and allowed the doctor to view x-ray images in real time albeit looking directly into the beam causing exposure to radiation. The technique was perfected by putting the images, again, onto cassettes so the doctor could see up to 6 pictures per second. In 1955 the x-ray was combined with a TV camera and monitor to provide real time images while exposing the doctor and patient to very little radiation. This also allowed for routine imaging of the heart and blood vessels. Ultrasound was another technique mastered after World War II where inaudible sound waves were sent to the region of interest and a transducer provided an image from the length of time a wave took to bounce back. Digital Imaging is now the wave of the future in relation to medical imaging. Digital images include CT scanning which was first invented in 1972 by Godfrey Hounsfield. Where Hounsfield’s images took hours to take and reconstruct images, today’s CT scans can do the same process in seconds. A CT scan is basically an x-ray mounted on a rotating frame that can take a cross sectional image. These images are used to inspect for everything from brain and kidney damage to cancer. For his invention Hounsfield was awarded a Nobel Prize and was knighted by the Queen of England. Laparoscopic surgery is when a small camera is used to view the inside of the body so people do not have to be cut open and is often used for appendicitis. This invention provides doctors with an alternative procedure that is less invasive to the human body and can heal faster. These examples only scratch the surface of what mankind has done with medical imaging. There are many other inventions, some useful, others not so much, that have been used in the past to treat medical problems. The field of medical imaging will only improve in the future because of developments from doctors and scientists concerned with human well being.