Medical Imaging—A way took inside the body

Medical imaging is a general categorization for a number of different methods used to create images of the inside of the human body. These images are used almost exclusively for medical or scientific purposes. The roots of medical imaging go back as far as 1895, when Wilhelm Roentgen accidentally discovered the existence of X-Rays. The X-Ray images for medical use were taken in the early part of the 20th Century and were of certain limbs, normally the hand. By the 1950s, X-Rays were in common use; by the 1970s, medical imaging made a rapid expansion through the use of other methods, including positron emission tomography (PET) and X-ray computed tomography (CT or CAT).

Medical imaging is deemed part of biological imaging and incorporates multiple aspects, including radiological sciences, endoscopy, medical thermograph, medical photography and microscopy. Medical imaging is considered by many to be an extension of radiology and is also referred to as “clinical imaging”. The individual analyzing the images made, regardless of whether actual radiation is involved, is a radiologist. In most cases, a radiographer is the individual actually taking the images.
Medical imaging can be considered a sub-segment of biomedical engineering, medical physics and normal medicine, depending on its use. Medical imaging can also be used in areas outside of the medical field. It has been used for scientific and industrial purposes as well. Certain kinds of medical imaging has been used in the field of archeology, for example, to analyze the inside of mummies or the fossilized bones of dinosaurs. Its industrial applications include taking detailed images of airplane wings or helicopter blades to look for cracks or other potentially harmful damage.

The primary use of medical imaging today is the production of images of all parts of the human body. The images are created through the use of certain kinds of waves (primarily X-Ray radiation or ultrasonic waves) which are absorbed or reflected by the body. The rate at which the rays are absorbed or reflected by bone, muscle or fat allows for the creation of an image.

There are multiple kinds of imaging technologies now in common use. The oldest and most common, radiographic images, use X-Rays to create images. The two forms of radiographic images are fluoroscopy, which produces real-time images with the assistance of contrast media injected into the body, and normal stationary X-Rays, which produce a one-time stationary image. Electron Microscopy is used to magnify and indentify extremely small items. It is commonly used in the diagnosis of kidney disease and immotile cilia syndrome.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) uses powerful magnets to polarize and excite hydrogen nuclei in water molecules in human tissue, producing a signal which produces a two-dimensional image of the human body. Tomography creates an image, known as a tomogram, of a single plane of an object. There are several kinds of tomography: linear tomography, poly tomography, zonography, orthopantomography and computed tomography (CT or CAT scans). Nuclear medicine includes the diagnosis and treatment of diseases using nuclear properties. In imaging, the energetic photons emitted from radioactive nuclei are used for enhancing and viewing infected areas. Digital Infared Imaging Thermography is frequently used in the diagnosis of breast cancer, as metabolic activity and circulation around a cancerous tumor is almost always greater than it is in normal breast tissue. This differentiation allows for a contrasted image to be made.