Advanced radiology includes all the high tech imaging techniques that are used today, especially towards getting an accurate diagnosis for a person. Now, these techniques include MRI and CAT scans, as well as other techniques that are still being tested and can’t actually be used for diagnosis purposes just yet.
MRI scans (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) or CAT scans (computer assisted tomography) are basically similar. Both techniques provide with similar images, but they are performed by different machines. The machines are called after the technique itself, so let’s see why there is a need for advanced radiology.
Regular imaging technology has been around for about 100 years, and as good as it was up until now, it just can’t cope with the demands of today’s illnesses. X-rays are still good for bone fractures and they have the benefit of being very cheap, but in general they can’t be used effectively for any other type of medical issue a person might have. This is where the extremely accurate advanced radiology techniques come into play.
For example, small cancer cells can go undetected by X-rays, but using MRI scans or CAT scans you can actually count them with a fair bit of accuracy. There are thousands of other diseases that can only be diagnosed using advanced radiology machines. This is why you need advanced radiology, because diseases have evolved and you can’t track them down and diagnose them properly with the older techniques.
Actually, MRI scans are used to detect tumors mainly and to scan the brain for an in depth look. Neurosurgeons use these machines on a daily basis to keep track of their patients progress and of course, to diagnose new patients and to give them a fighting chance by providing with swift treatment right where it hurts. Thanks to these techniques many, many thousands of lives have been saved. Were it not for MRI and CT scans, we would still be in the dark age from a medical point of view.
Like all high tech machines and techniques, these advanced radiology techniques were developed for the army at first, but have slowly proved to be of more use in hospitals all over the globe. The only problem is that they are still extremely expensive hardware and hospitals in less developed countries can’t afford them yet. Still, statistics show that advanced radiology techniques are used in almost 90 percent of hospitals around the world. Slowly but surely, MRI scans will be available to everyone, everywhere, for free.
