Seeing Through Things

Medical Science would surely run a far different course if in 1895 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen had not casually discovered, during his experiments with vacuum tubes, that strange radiation capable of penetrating objects, which carries his name in many parts of the world and which we call instead by the name he gave it himself, that is "X-Rays". Röntgen gave it this name because it was to him a mysterious, new and unknown radiation; to us, today, they are instead ad essential and widespread diagnostic tool.

For this very reason Radiology has evolved through the years, not just in the competence of the doctors and technicians practicing its use, but also in the technologies it includes, and in the tools used to administer patients radiological examinations.

From Röntgen's first X-Ray photographs, confused images of his wife's hand bones, a path started which crosses Fluoroscopy, which allows to observe dynamic processes inside the body as they happen, Axial Tomography, which makes a 3-d rendering of veins and arteries possible, Magnetic Resonance, which creates digitalized renderings on any axis, culminating in Nuclear medicine, by which the observation of physiological activity in the inner organs becomes possible. Nonetheless, even today, in most cases traditional Radiography, thanks to its ease of application, speed, and realtively low costs, remains the primary diagnostic tool, especially with the evolution of technical apparatuses. And speaking of apparatuses, probably one of the most important is the C-Arm, or Image Intensifier. We discussed it with an Italian Company which has been building them since the 70s: Eurocolumbus.

The C-arm is a complex piece of machinery, which is used in Radiology to examine patients. Its peculiarities lie in allowing to obtain not simple "still pictures" of the inside of the body, but actual short real-time movies which can be viewed on screen, and at the same time overcoming a sadly known problem with X-rays, which is not by itself avoidable: their lethality at high dosages. If the name of "C-arm" derives simply from the shape of this tool, that of "image intensifier", which is just as important, has its origin in the fact that this tool makes it possible to amplify the low dosage of X-rays that is administered, thus obtaining a precise and well-resolved image of the inner body of the patient. The advantage for the patient, who is bombarded by a far lower quantity of radiation, thus avoiding several helth issues, and still obtains a result from this important diagnostic tool, is evident.

Image intensifiers are now used in a very broad spectrum of examinations: Endoscopies, Fertility studies, Angiographies and cardiac exams, as well as Orthopedic procedures. And thanks to the possiiblity of integrating digital systems in these apparatuses, it becomes possible to review the exam "movie" without need for further examination and bombardment with radiation, to zoom in real-time on clinically useful details, and take vascular distance measurements directly during the examination, thus definitely reducing quantity and exposure length to X-rays.