In the early years, the most important factor was likely improvements in diagnosis. In diagnosis, the chest x-ray proved itself of enormous importance. Intelligently handled, the chest x-ray was a highly effective screening device. The three-fourths of the lung normally depicted by an x-ray contain the area predominantly attacked by the disease.
When Roentgen made his monumental discovery of the x-ray in 1895, his quick mind must have glimpsed some breathtaking future possibilities. But, as he looked at his Hittorf-Crookes tube, his induction coil, and his simple mercury interrupter, could he foresee the modern shockproof unit? Did his sensitized paper or the cumbersome glass plate conjure up visions of today’s films? As soon as Roentgen was sure of his facts, he made them known ethically through medical channels.
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A doctor views x-ray films for signs of active tuberculosis among his patients. |
Shortly, physicians on both sides of the Atlantic were using his "X" ray to visualize fractures, bone diseases, or opaque foreign bodies in the tissues. Before long, they were trying out the new medium for investigating lung conditions, chiefly the lesions caused by tuberculosis. But equipment was costly and bulky. Development of safer, properly calibrated machines, the introduction of celluloid films, improvements in technique bringing clearer images with shorter exposure times have virtually all come about since World War I. It is true that less than a year after Roentgen’s 1895 discovery, Bleyer, in England, described a way to record on photographic plates, the images that glowed on a fluorescent surface. And within the next fifteen years investigators in both Europe and America succeeded in registering fluorescent images on camera film.
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