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History Symposium: Physics and Technology of Mammography and Fluoroscopy: A Historical Perspective

P Sprawls1*, S Balter2*, (1) Sprawls Educational Foundation, Black Mountain, NC, (2) Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY




Presentations

(Tuesday, 7/16/2019) 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Room: 301

Roentgen’s discovery and intense research with “a new kind of radiation� was a major contribution to both medicine and physics. It provided medicine with the capability to view into the human body for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. It established medical physics as a profession that continues to impact and enhance the lives of the majority of humans around the world. The human hand was the natural anatomy for the first x-ray imaging. In addition to being small and relatively easy to penetrate it contained bones that provided high contrast with the soft tissue. Imaging of the hand was quickly practiced in many institutions because the equipment available in physics laboratories--high-voltage generators and partially-evacuated glass tubes-- was capable of producing x-radiation that could penetrate and image hands. This has been followed by over a century of research and development by physicists and engineers to produce technology and methods that can image all parts of the human body with enhanced visualization of anatomical structures, organ functions, and signs of pathology and injury. Factors that are driving this effort include increasing visualization and image quality, specific clinical requirements for diagnosis and therapeutic procedures, and managing risks associated with exposure to radiation. This has resulted in multiple complementary imaging methods and modalities with each fulfilling specific clinical needs. This has been in parallel with extensive development of therapeutic procedures and expanding medical physics clinical applications. The overall objective of this symposium series is to provide insight into the historical evolution and development of these specific imaging modalities and therapeutic methods. The two topics for this session are mammography and fluoroscopy, methods with very different characteristics to address very different clinical requirements.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the general clinical applications and requirements for specific imaging or therapeutic methods.
2. Relate physical and technical characteristics of imaging methods to clinical applications.
3. Observe the impact of general developments in science and technology on developments in medical imaging and therapeutic procedures.
4. Follow trends and changes in factors including image quality and radiation exposure for specific imaging methods.

Handouts

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