Medical imaging is not, of course, a single technology, but an umbrella term for a bunch of different methods of getting a handle on what's going on within our bodies. One example might be a combination of these methods, like the Explorer total-body scanner, which performs both PET and CT scans. Without these advancements, we'd be devoting a lot more resources to palliative care. The tech in question includes x-rays, CT scans, MRIs, and ultrasounds, and each has changed the diagnostic landscape in its own way.
But x-rays themselves aren't just a diagnostic tool. They are used to guide surgeons, monitor the progress of therapies, and inform treatment strategies for the use of medical devices, cancer treatments, and blockages of various sorts. In 1896, the then-hyphenated New-York Times mocked Wilhelm Conrad Rntgen's medical application of X-ray imaging as an "alleged discovery of how to photograph the invisible." Five years later, Rntgen won the Nobel Prize in Physics. A century later, X-rays have replaced invasive surgeries and guesswork as a core diagnostic tool for doctors at every level.
Less a new imaging technology than a brilliant implementation of existing methods, computed tomography (CT) uses cross-sectional X-ray images acquired from various angles and computer algorithms to rapidly create a navigable, three-dimensional image of small or large parts of the body. Because it's based on X-rays, CT scans are better at imaging bones than soft tissues. CT scans provide many of the same benefits as other medical imaging methods, enhanced for many purposes by their speed and superior imaging of bones.
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Tech Inventions That Changed The Health Industry Forever - SlashGear