When physicist Wilhelm Röntgen documented the bones of his wife’s hand using x-rays, he could not have imagined how profoundly his discovery would continue to impact the medical profession more than a hundred years later. He could not have predicted his Nobel Prize or the element that would be named in his honor, Roentgenium (Rg). Today, electromagnetic radiation is used for an abundance of medical processes, from traditional skeletal analysis to more complex tumor diagnosis procedures. The x-ray breakthrough inspired a generation of medical imaging technologies like MRIs and ultrasound that are so heavily relied upon in obstetrics and cancer screening, and which continue to save lives. And of course, more than a century after the initial discovery, engineers and doctors are still finding clever ways to use radiologic devices for the benefit of mankind.
Everyone knows that yearly mammograms for women, starting between 40-50 years of age, are a good idea. In fact, a new, large-scale Swedish study claims to confirm the benefits of this procedure. How does a mammographic test work? Well, it uses x-rays to create an image of the breast, illuminating potential abnormalities and supposedly boosting breast cancer survival rates. But this technology still has a long way to go, and its effectiveness is actually still under question by a lot of people. There have been numerous cases of false positives and even entire tumors going completely undetected in women, so-called “false negatives.” The technology isn’t perfect and it still has a long way to go before it is universally accepted, but x-rays made it possible to begin with. The x-ray has spawned an entire diagnostic niche that continues to get better and that, in time, will save more and more lives.
As with any fatal disease, the early detection of lung cancer–and preventative screening–continues to help in the fight against mortality rates. A recent decade-long study has revealed that low-dose computed tomography (CT) chest scans contributed to a 20% decrease in lung cancer mortality as compared to people screened with chest x-rays. What’s important to note here, of course, is that both of the techniques use x-rays as the electromagnetic source to generate images. What this appears to show is that the CT process, which is a much more sophisticated and refined version of the traditional x-ray, is more effective at actually detecting the cancer. This is good news for the radiologic industry in general and will help pave the way for more advanced and creative use of the technology, but there are still people who dispute the fact that these procedures can actually cause cancer, since they expose the body to limited amounts of radiation.
And how about those NFL players who are constantly butting heads and breaking bones? Sports, which is a huge industry both in the US and around the world, relies on radiological technology more than most people probably imagine. Recently, a group of 75 ex-professional football players decided to sue the NFL after a recent paper in the Journal of Radiology revealed disruptive brain connectivity in post-concussive patients. In a profession where sports players are expected to recover quickly and get back in the game as soon as possible, health can sometimes seem secondary. The ex-players alleged that the NFL was purposefully concealing the negative effects of concussions, and that they had been doing so for many years. Imagine that: a potentially major lawsuit built entirely on a study created from x- ray images. Indeed, radiology is far-reaching and will continue to find more intriguing use over time.
Most CT scanners are enormous cylindrical machines that occupy an entire room of a hospital, but this is changing. The Ceretom is the only portable CT technology of its kind in North Jersey, and Valley Hospital has been using it in the operating room during surgery. While Ceretom can only be used to scan specific body parts at this time, it can be transported to any part of the hospital, increasing its versatility. It’s a great example of the direction in
which radiologic technology is heading: towards more diversified use and more compact transportation.
These days, preventative medicine is gaining a lot of momentum in health care. As it continues to do so, it’s always valuable for doctors–and medical students!–to have a perspective on how creative uses of x-ray technology will continue to change their day-to-day routines. Radiologic technology is a cornerstone of the medical profession. The prospect for improvement is great. People are finding new uses for CT technology in gunfire trauma. The ultrasound is becoming increasingly more universal. The list goes on.
It will only be a matter of time before more novel uses crop up, and often it is doctors who help inspire and generate these new ideas. Remember that without radiologic technology it would become much more difficult, neigh impossible, to detect certain cancers of the brain and in the lungs. The doctor’s life would become increasingly more difficult, and indeed health care would, too.
This is a guest post written by Anderson Hawthorne, a biomedical engineer and contributor at x ray tech, a radiology technology resource site.
