Technical developments in radiology in Australasia dating from 1977

Abstract

This article outlines the enormous technological advances that have taken place in the practice of radiology in Australasia in the 30 years since approximately 1977. These developments have led to significant improvements in image quality across all modalities, including even general radiography, which had as its genesis Roentgen's ground-breaking discovery of X-rays in 1895. However, nowhere has the development been more dramatic than in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This may be brought into stark reality by noting that the first MRI image of a human finger was produced in 1976 followed one year later by that of a human chest and the first MRI units were not installed in Australia and New Zealand until 1986 and 1991, respectively. The quality of these early images would be judged as laughable by today's standards where the impressive isotropic imaging that can be achieved at sub-millimetre level by both MRI and CT could not have been dreamed of 30 years ago. The review also highlights some challenges for the future of the medical physics profession.

What is Radiology? A look into the history, advancement and modern applications of the specialty

“…These new units are capable of producing images with essentially isotropic spatial resolution at the sub millimetre level and even whole body images made by stitching together images acquired in a step and scan manner'. [29] As aforementioned, Damadian and the MRI evolvement process was involved in a controversial situation with the Nobel Prize committee when, in 2003, they awarded Lauterbur and Mansfield the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work regarding the development of MRI technology; Dr. Damadian was omitted and this, as expected, created a controversy [25] . According to the available information, the Noble Prize could be awarded to up to 3 scientists [25] .…”

“…The history of MRI starts in approximately 1976 with a scan of a human finger by a group at Nottingham which was followed, one year later by an image of the human chest (the first of its kind) by Damadian [29,30,31] . According to Heggie: 'The appearance of that unit [in reference to what is known as the 'Indomitable'] may be contrasted somewhat with that of the modern superconducting MRI units operating at field strengths, typically between1.5 and 3T.…”

Medical physics publishing in a changing research environment: the Australasian Physical & Engineering Sciences in Medicine 40th anniversary editorial

“…The 30th volume of APESM in particular presented a well-written history of APESM [2] in addition to 30 year retrospectives on medical physics in radiation oncology, radiology, nuclear medicine and radiation protection (some of which include fun photos of a few now-senior ACPSEM members) [3][4][5][6].…”