Radiology Day

The physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays by chance when he was examining electrical charges in an almost airless glass tube. And suddenly saw the bones in his hand.

The "International Day of Radiology" is celebrated worldwide to mark the anniversary of his discovery, which he called "X-rays".

The day recognizes the importance of radiology for medical care. It also highlights the work of professionals working in this field.

Almost 200 societies now celebrate the day, which was introduced in 2012 as a joint initiative of the European Society of Radiology (ESR), the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and the American College of Radiology (ACR).

Radiology is the medical specialty that uses a variety of technical procedures to obtain images for diagnostic, therapeutic and scientific purposes.
The procedures are referred to as imaging or image-guided (if the images are used for control during an interventional, minimally invasive procedure).

Radiology imaging procedures are essential for the precise, rapid and gentle diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of most diseases (and numerous injuries). Thanks to radiological images (including 3D models), operations can be precisely planned and carried out (or avoided). Radiological procedures (such as mammograms) are also used for the early detection of diseases.

Image-guided minimally invasive radiology techniques play an important role in the treatment of numerous diseases.

One advantage of radiology becomes clear if you go back in time: before the establishment of radiological techniques, doctors could only look inside the body after the scalpel had been applied.

The first X-ray images often had image distortions or "artifacts" that were perceived as spooky or eerie. Some of the images looked like "ghost images" to viewers because they showed parts of the body that could not be seen before.
Even today, radiological images sometimes reveal surprising things: The depiction of the suction system of a special bandage in the computer tomography led to amusement among radiologists in musculoskeletal diagnostics.

X-rays can be used to examine more than just living tissue.
Art historians also use them to analyze paintings and objects. Our unusual patients have also included fragile historical musical instruments - a violin, a dulcimer and a flute.
Computed tomography revealed their inner workings, sometimes including unknown restoration attempts, and made it possible to reconstruct them true to the original.

The possibilities of radiology have inspired comic authors to create "X-ray vision". Superman uses it to see through all materials (except lead). There are now so many procedures that Superman's counterparts could react with a CT or MRI scan.

However, the examinations are always suitable for specific tissue, e.g:

X-ray: bones, joints, individual organs of the chest and abdomen (e.g. lungs, heart, intestines)

Computed tomography (CT): abdominal organs, lungs, brain, bones, joints, vessels (CT provides extremely precise tomographic images or three-dimensional images)

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): joints, muscles, fatty and connective tissue, internal organs, brain, neck, spine (incidentally, MRI is radiation-free)

Ultrasound (sonography): internal organs, blood vessels, joints, soft tissue (e.g. thyroid and pancreas, lymph nodes - ultrasound provides a very quick assessment)

In fact, a modern radiological procedure uses radio waves (high-frequency electrical energy or current) to destroy altered tissue using heat. Radiofrequency ablation is very gentle and well tolerated: it is very targeted, minimally invasive and often performed on an outpatient basis. A tiny probe is guided to the treatment site via a small incision, where heat destroys the altered tissue.

Our interventional radiologists used radiofrequency ablation to treat an osteoid osteoma, a benign but extremely painful bone tumor (see arrow in the illustration), which was located in the 2nd cervical vertebra of a 6-year-old and was therefore difficult to access. Just a few years ago, surgery would have been associated with major risks. Thanks to modern imaging, it was possible to navigate the probe with millimeter precision (via a needle through the mouth; see the computer tomography image of the procedure). The little patient was pain-free the very next day.

Nuclear medicine uses special radioactive substances (radiopharmaceuticals) for the functional diagnosis and treatment of diseases:

• Diagnostics: Radiopharmaceuticals are used to visualize metabolic processes and organ functions as well as blood flow. The substances emit radiation that is detected by special cameras, e.g. when examining the thyroid gland, the heart or tumors.

• Therapy: In highly targeted nuclear medicine treatments, radiopharmaceuticals are used that accumulate in diseased tissue, such as tumors, and destroy it in a targeted manner using radiation without having a major impact on the surrounding healthy tissue. A well-known example is radioiodine therapy, which is used to treat thyroid cancer.

In nuclear medicine, radioactive substances are used to visualize specific functions of the body or to treat diseased cells in a targeted manner.

The substances used in nuclear medicine diagnostics and therapy (radiopharmaceuticals) are produced specifically for our patients. For this purpose, there is a special radiopharmaceutical chemistry laboratory at the University Hospital.

This research-oriented department develops new magnetic resonance procedures to improve the imaging of various organs.
In addition, the radiation physicists, who are responsible for maintaining and optimizing radiation protection at the university hospital, work in radiological physics.

Interventional radiology specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases, inflammation, tumours and pain.

Their causes are treated in a targeted manner and as gently as possible using tiny instruments. The treatment is therefore referred to as minimally invasive therapy.

Our eight departments include four that specialize in specific organ systems:

• abdominal and oncological diagnostics (with the breast diagnostics section)
• Cardiac and thoracic diagnostics
• musculoskeletal diagnostics
• diagnostic and interventional neuroradiology
  

They are complemented by the departments of

• interventional radiology
• nuclear medicine

The two scientific departments are responsible for the drugs required in nuclear medicine and for medical-physical services and radiation protection:

• radiopharmaceutical chemistry
• radiological physics