Visualising the body
Before the advent of photography, medical texts favoured detailed illustrations of medical conditions and procedures—until technology gave us new ways of visualising the body.
Photography
The medical community was an early adopter of photographic technology but for several decades, medical texts continued to favour hand-drawn illustrations of diseases and procedures because a skilled artist was able to capture detail more accurately than a photograph.
Photography was used primarily to document visible symptoms. In modern medicine, still and video photography are used as diagnostic tools and to document case histories. But the 1900s saw an explosion of new technologies that provided unprecedented views of the internal body.
Fibre-optic endoscope for oesophago-gastro duodenoscopy (1980) by Science Museum Science Museum
Endoscopy
Digital photography continues to play a role in medicine through documentation, research and education. Video cameras are commonly used to look inside the body, most often in the form of endoscopes.
An endoscope consists of thin tubes with a powerful light and tiny camera at the end. The length and flexibility of the endoscope depends on the part of the body the practitioner is investigating. For example, an endoscope used to view the inside of the colon is long and flexible.
Endoscopy allows medical practitioners to scan for tumours, to investigate symptoms or confirm a diagnosis and to help surgeons prepare for procedures.
X-ray imaging
X-rays were the first technology that made it possible to see inside the body without having to open it up. They were discovered by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen at the end of the 1800s and had an immediate impact on anatomical study and diagnostics.
Medical practitioners used early X-ray images to locate broken bones or foreign objects lodged in the body. X-ray images were also utilised outside medicine.
Popular in the mid-20th century, pedoscopes were used in shoe stores to X-ray feet inside shoes. The customer would place their foot in a hole at the base of the wooden machine to view the image. Exposure settings were adjusted based on the customer's age and sex.
In the late 1920s, evidence began to emerge which showed that large doses of X‑ray radiation were harmful. As a result, both patients and practitioners had to be protected from over-exposure. Machines were shielded and radiologists wore protective clothing.
Model of a mobile mass miniature x-ray unit (1955) by Science Museum Science Museum
Mobile X-ray units
By the 1930s, X-ray images were an essential tool in hospitals, the military and public health programmes. Army recruits were X‑rayed for chest conditions such as tuberculosis, and in the 1940s mobile X-ray units travelled around the country performing mass civilian screening for TB.
Brain scanner and couch unit for EMI brain scanner (1980) by Atkinson Morley's Hospital and Science Museum Group Science Museum
Scanning technologies
Scanning technologies collect readings from the body and use a computer to process data into visual images. The readings can be taken from a variety of sources such as X-ray transmission through the body or echoes of high frequency sound waves.
Computer aided tomography (CAT) scanner
A CT (or CAT) scanner works by sending multiple X‑ray beams through the body at different angles. This is called tomography. Detectors record how the beams pass through sections of the body and the data is processed by a computer into cross-sectional images or virtual ‘slices’.
CT scans provide more detailed images than X-ray machines. They can be used to detect bone and joint damage, including complex bone fractures. They can also reveal the precise location, size and shape of unusual occurrences, such as tumours and blood clots, and internal injuries.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner
An MRI scanner uses magnetic fields and radio waves to generate images of the inside of the body. Unlike X-rays, an MRI scan can visualise soft tissue such as the organs and blood vessels. It is a safe and painless procedure, leaving no lasting effect on the patient.
Find out how an MRI scanner works
Polaroid photograph of ultra-sound scan of foetus in utero (1981) by University College Hospital and Science Museum Group Science Museum
Ultrasound scanner
Ultrasound is a diagnostic imaging technology that uses high-frequency sound waves—well beyond the range of human hearing—to produce pictures of the inside of the body. Most people are familiar with the images produced when pregnant women receive a routine ultrasound scan.
Ultrasound has little to no effect on the foetus or pregnant woman, so it is much safer than X-rays for use during pregnancy. Another advantage of ultrasound is that it generates real-time moving images of the inside of the body. Observing the foetus inside the womb.
Cryogenic MRI helmets (1980) by Data General Science Museum
From early illustrations to advanced scanning technologies, visualising the body has transformed medicine. These innovations have deepened our understanding of human health, continually pushing the boundaries of science and technology.
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