Oxford Medical Histories : History of Radiology

239 Pages·2013·3.22 MB·English

by  Banerjee

The History of Radiology
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The History
of Radiology
Adrian M.K. Thomas
Arpan K. Banerjee
Series Advisor
Christopher Gardner-Thorpe
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3
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To my mother Mary. I still miss you.
To my children, Gareth, Charlotte, and Owen.
I have learnt so much from each of you.
Adrian M.K. Thomas
To my late mother for her selfl ess devotion to her children.
To my father for his wisdom and continued encouragement.
To my wife, Tina, for her patience and support.
To my daughters, Shonali and Shiuli, for providing
inspiration for the future.
Arpan K. Banerjee
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Foreword
This series of Oxford Medical Histories is designed to bring to a wide
readership of clinical doctors and others from many backgrounds a
short but comprehensive text setting out the essentials of medicine.
History describes the knowledge acquired over time by human
beings. It is a form of storytelling, of organizing knowledge, of sorting
and giving impetus to information. The study of medical history, just
like the history of other human endeavours, enables us to analyse our
knowledge of the past in order to plan our journey forward and hence
try to limit repetition of our mistakes—a sort of planned process of
Natural Selection. Medical history also encourages and trains us to use
an academic approach to our studies which thereby should be more pre-
cise, more meaningful, and more productive. Medical history should be
enjoyable too, since that is a powerful stimulus to move forward, a fun
thing to do.
The inspiring book that led to this series introduced us to clinical
neurology, genetics, and the history of those with muscular dystrophy.
Alan and Marcia Emery explored T he History of a Genetic Disease , now
often styled Meryon’s disease rather than Duchenne muscular dystro-
phy. The fi rst to describe a disease process is not necessarily the owner
of the eponym but the Emerys are helping put that right for their sub-
ject, Edward Meryon.
This book on radiology takes us on a journey round the specialty. The
volume could equally well have been described as a History of Medical
Imaging since so much has happened here, as in almost every speci-
ality in medicine, to improve our diagnosis and treatment of the ail-
ments that can affl ict us all. More always needs to be done, of course.
Radiology has its own special place since at fi rst it was concerned with
producing pictures of broken bones and dislocated joints and then
through various technical advances it has metamorphosed to a vast
array of methods by which not only the anatomy but also the physiology
viii FOREWORD
of the body may be examined. Thus the authors describe the use of tom-
ography, ultrasound, isotope studies, computed tomography, positron
emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and much else.
These techniques enable doctors to see into the structure and workings
of the body and, of course, have also been used in animal health, in the
palaeoimaging of Egyptian mummies, in investigating the remains of
sailors who died during the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845–1848,
and in many other circumstances.
Future volumes in this series of Oxford Medical Histories should
take us to other aspects of our humanity, always leaving us with more
questions than have been answered since each new discovery leads to
more questions, exponential sets of issue for study, further thought,
and an attempt to solve the big questions that surround our existence.
Medicine is about people and so is history; the study of the combination
of the duo can be very powerful. What do you think?
Christopher Gardner-Thorpe, MD, FRCP, FACP
Series Advisor, Oxford Medical Histories
Preface
The history of medicine from antiquity to the present day has been
well chronicled in many notable scholarly texts. Radiology, which was
founded in 1895 following R ö ntgen’s discovery of X-rays, is a relatively
new subspecialty of medicine and as such has often been neglected in
medical historical books.
The history of the development of radiology, although a relatively
new specialty, is an interesting story. Rapid advances in the 20th cen-
tury in physics, chemistry, engineering, and computing enabled engi-
neers, scientists, and doctors to collaborate and produce remarkable
new machines, equipment, and techniques for investigating the human
body, thus revolutionizing the science of medical imaging.
In this book the authors have tried to review the remarkable develop-
ments that occurred in the fi eld of medical imaging since the discovery
of X-rays and have tried to place the advances in not only a historical but
also a cultural and social context. A work such as this is perhaps more
notable for its omissions and it does not profess to be encyclopaedic.
Great discoveries and inventions in medicine and science often result
in accolades going to a few and these people are often said to have been
privileged to stand on the shoulder of giants who have preceded them. A
book like this would not have been possible without the help of previous
scholars, libraries, and many learned institutions and their archives,
journals, and collections which are acknowledged in the text and the
references. We have attempted to tell the story of the last hundred years
of radiology and hope the book will be of interest to a wide range of
readers including doctors, scientists, medical physicists, radiographers,
historians of medicine and science, as well as any interested lay person.
Most of the population will undergo some form of medical imaging
during their lives. This book hopefully will serve to explain how cur-
rent radiology developed from fairly humble beginnings to the modern,
sophisticated, high-technology specialty of the 21st century.