For decades, this involved making an X-ray image and printing it on a piece of clear film so that doctors could see bones and shadow-like representations of other structures inside the body.

Visual observation in making a diagnosis about health problems is as old as medical practice itself. Since the invention of X-rays, doctors have been able to see inside the body and make more accurate determinations about a large number of disorders.

Today, with the help of computer technology and new ways of taking pictures inside the body, doctors are able to see much smaller structures in much greater detail.

In the case of injuries, seeing more details provides valuable information about the nature and extent of damage to structures inside the body. This information leads to the best possible treatments and much better outcomes after healing.

Well over 100 years ago, the accidental discovery of radiation showed that certain elements emit rays and atomic particles that can travel through solid objects and make a shadow graph on photographic film. However, the German physics professor Wilhelm Roentgen showed that high energy electrical discharges in a vacuum tube could produce the same kind of images. His discovery opened the door to X-ray technology and diagnostic imaging. Since different structures inside the body block or attenuate radiation in varying degrees, a shadow graph image of internal structures is made when a part of the body is placed between the radiation source and the film.

Shadow graphs on photographic film were the limit of medical imaging until new types of sensors and computer technology began to reveal more details about anatomical structures and their locations in the body. Today's medical imaging technologies have sharpened the details even more. Computed Tomography or CT imaging can produce multiple-layered shadow graphs of anatomical structures and even 3-D pictures.

Modern X-ray devices produce far better images with much lower doses of radiation.

Another development, already in use for over 20 years, involves carefully tuned radio waves and magnetism to get the nuclei of atoms inside the body to broadcast their positions so they can be plotted in a computer to form amazingly detailed pictures. MRI does not involve X-rays, and exposure to the radio waves and magnetism is not subject to exposure restrictions. Images made by MRI equipment are able to show details of the brain, nervous system, muscles, and many other types of soft tissue in the body. These pictures are very clear and reveal small details that allow us to diagnose and later to monitor and inform your doctor about changes in most abnormalities.

The newest technology involves the ability to show how and where cells in the body are metabolizing glucose. This is known as Positron Emission Tomography or PET and, until recently, was used mostly for medical research. The newest addition in our diagnostic imaging offering is the PET/CT Scanner. This equipment combines PET with CT scan information to produce images that can show the exact location and size of cancers with much greater accuracy. This imaging ability is extremely important in locating cancer and making determinations about treatment. It helps doctors to see exactly how cancer treatments are working plus how and when to modify treatments for the best possible results.

PET/CT technology is also used in investigating and helping to treat certain disorders of the heart.

Another imaging technology uses ultra-high frequency sound waves. These can also pass through solid objects. Unlike X-rays, sound waves are reflected back from embedded objects in varying degrees depending on the nature of the structure. The reflected waves are picked up by a sensor which relays the information in them to a computer where images, and even moving pictures are assembled. This technology is the basis for ultra-sound imaging now widely used in physician offices and in hospital obstetrics and cardiology departments.