Has imaging technology changed the way patients are managed? Yes, yes and definitely yes!

human body

Back in the seventies an operating list would begin with something they called ‘exploratory laparotomy’. A laparotomy is a huge procedure to open up the patient’s abdomen and look inside. It was ‘exploratory’ because the surgeon usually didn’t have a clue what he or she would find. (Sounds like a medieval torture method…)

These days, when a surgeon opens an abdomen, head or chest, they know exactly what they are going to find thanks to pre-operative scanning which confirmed the disease present, demonstrated its extent and often its exact nature.

Pheuw! What a relief…

Source: The Naked Scientist