What is Radiology?

The branch of medicine known as radiology was born when German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen accidentally discovered x-rays while working in his lab in 1895. The x-ray's extraordinary benefit to medical science was immediately recognized and, with the research of French scientists Marie and Pierre Curie that followed Roentgen's discovery, scientific and technological advances have led to the important role radiology plays today in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Radiology is both a diagnostic and therapeutic tool. Diagnostic imaging employs a number of different modalities, such as plain radiography, CT scanning, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, and nuclear medicine, to identify disease and other conditions within the human body. Therapeutic imaging, commonly called interventional radiology, is a subspecialty that involves the use of imaging technology to carry out minimally invasive procedures with the help of devices such as catheters, balloons, and stents to open blocked blood vessels, drain fluid, and perform needle biopsies.

Imaging studies are typically performed by a trained technologist, while the radiologist, a specially trained medical doctor, reviews and interprets the radiographic images and reports the findings to the patient's primary care physician. Typically these reports reach the referring physician within 2-3 days of the procedure.

Today, the radiologic sciences are on the brink of a new age. Computerized data has enabled the effective and efficient delivery of diagnosis and treatment to patients throughout the world, including those in remote regions. UCSF is at the helm of these exciting advances in imaging technology, with significant research being carried out in picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), The work being done in the radiologic labs at UCSF continues to benefit healthcare around the globe.