A Radiologist's Art in CT Images

Haiku (Haiku, n.d.) is one of the most important form of traditional Japanese poetry. Haiku is a 17-syllable verse form consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. They have been used for training medical students to be reflective and develop empathy. More medical haikus can be enjoyed at http://www.pallimed.org/2012/09/hospice-and-palliative-haiku.html

A computed tomography (CT) scan is an imaging method that uses x-rays to create pictures of cross-sections of the body with few complications like allergic reaction to contrast dye or exposé to radiation (shaw A S, 2008). Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. Here, Dr Piyudev, a radiologist, looks at discarded CT images (Figure 1 through Figure 6) with a new perspective and attempts to create new meaning from them.

Figure 1.

A lady in Burka (lungs)

Figure 6.

Two astronauts (foot)

Here are a few discarded CT images seen in a new light (see Figures 1-6).

Figure 2.

God in temple (pelvis)

Figure 3.

M. F. Hussain (head)

Figure 4.

Mother (aorta)

Figure 5.

Tigers foot mark (vertebra)

Every day we are watching the same slices in black & white repeatedly and often we may chance upon different shapes, designs, color contours but then as a radiologist our primary job is to look for any clinically abnormal lesion / foci within the normal structures and this is one reason we may not enjoy the non clinical beauty of our scanned images at work. When we are exposed to medicine as art we can see these slices with fresh perspectives which may hopefully guide us towards understanding the persons behind the these images.