Medical Imaging

A prize-winning medical writer offers an explanation of modern diagnostic medical imaging technologies--and the issues that result from their use and misuse.

Medical Imaging describes the discovery and development of diagnostic imaging technologies, explaining how the technologies work and exploring some of the issues that such powerful and expensive technologies create. The book begins with the discovery of X-rays in 1895 and traces the history of imaging technology through today's tools, such as X-ray computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional imaging by positron emission tomography (PET), and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

The contribution of these expensive technologies to the rising cost of healthcare in the United States and the unequal distribution of imaging diagnostic facilities, particularly in developing countries, is also considered. In addition, the book explores ethical questions that have surfaced in the past, including the reportability of incidental findings during a scan and admissibility of medical images as evidence in courts of law, and such newly emerging issues as the application of imaging tools in lie detection and the mammography guidelines controversy of 2009.