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What is radiology? Radiology is the science of medical imaging. It is the merge of medicine,
computers, science, technology, and photography for the pure benefit of advancing the ability to provide better health care at lower cost.
Radiology is single handedly credited with the current revolution taking over the medical world.
More and more radiology advances come to light leading to significant advantages to those afflicted by various medical conditions.
Whether it is a blocked artery, a kidney stone,
a breast lump, or a suspicious tumor, radiology and the science and technology behind it have led to decreased inconvenience and harm to patients.
Noticeable differences include early detection of tumours leading to higher chance of complete recovery, shorter hospital stay,
less scars, less pain duration, less cost, less exposure to anesthesia and a quicker return to productive life.
Radiology covers many specialties and modalities. It deals with the whole body and almost all its organs.
We use radiology to image the liver, kidneys, pancreas, bones, joints, brain, spinal cord, back, and others.
The tools at our disposal are numerous including the latest cutting edge and coolest stuff.
There are MRI machines, CT scanners, Ultrasound machines, mammography machines, nuclear medicine, fluoroscopy machines, and general x-ray machines among others.
But there is to what is radiology. It is the art of investigating the inner body via a serious of images obtained at high speed using the most state of the art cutting edge
advances in technology and computers. Each day, the science of radiology allows us to know more about diseases, their behavior, and course.
The exponential growth of radiology led to its branching outside of the classic diagnostic realm to the therapeutic via interventional radiology.
Radiologists now can stop internal bleeding, reverse a brain clot, open a narrowed artery, dissolve a clot, drain an abscess, biopsy a mass,
and even cure some cases of hyperthyroidism and hypertension.
The advances in radiology continue to impact the patients dramatically. More and more studies are done by radiologists today and more and more procedures
now fall under the realm of radiology. For example, if a breast lump is found, a radiologist can, via stereotactic biopsy (an outpatient procedure
that takes 10 minutes and needs no anesthesia) extract from it a sample large enough for a conclusive diagnosis to be made, something that
in the not so distant past would have required a general surgeon, anesthesia, a scar, loss of productivity, and lots of pain. Virtual colonoscopy
is quickly becoming the gold standard in the evaluation of the colon for any polyps replacing the discomfort and potential injury associated with the
invasive colonoscopy. Similarly, CT angiography is quickly replacing the invasive cardiac catheterization for the evaluation of coronary artery disease.
Radiology allows us to measure bone density, blood flow, fetal growth, spread of tumours, tendon recovery, breast implant health, among many others.
We use our various modalities in all kinds of medical settings from cancer screening to emergency trauma, from abdomen to pelvis, and from head to toes.
As technology continues to advance so will the exponential growth of the science and art of radiology and its impact on our life and health.
So as one can tell, there is a lot to what is radiology, far far more than plain x-ray.
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What is Radiology
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