Radiology is a medical speciality born when a German physicist named Wilhelm Roentgen accidentally discovered x-rays in 1895.

The x-ray's extraordinary benefit to medicine was immediately recognized.  Before the advent of x-rays, the only ways to see anatomical or physiological changes was as a result of traumatic operations, or after death – neither of which was very helpful for most conditions.

Since discovering x-rays, scientists have also developed further ways of looking within the body.  The research of French scientists Marie and Pierre Curie resulted in “nuclear medicine” – which enables doctors to understand the physiology of the body.  When used in conjunction with a modality that shows the anatomy, this can be very powerful. Subsequent discoveries in ultrasound and magnetic resonance also resulted in additional ways to look within the body (ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging).  And the development of a rotating x-ray enabled the development of a three dimensional image using x-rays (computed tomography or CT).

Given the importance of these imaging modalities to the advance of care, it is not surprising that many of these discoveries have resulted in Nobel Prizes – for the discovery of radioactivity (the precursor to nuclear medicine) in 1903, for CT in 1979 and for MRI in 2003.

Radiology now uses each of these advances for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Diagnostic imaging identifies disease and other conditions within the human body. Therapeutic imaging – or interventional radiology – uses the same advances 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 radiographer – a trained specialist.  The results of these studies are first presented to a radiologist.  A radiologist is a doctor with additional specialist training who reviews and interprets the images and reports the findings.  The radiologist may also undertake the interventional procedures.

Today, radiology is on the brink of a new age with the maturity of each of these modalities, and with the advent of advanced computing power.  MDI works with the fruits of 150 years of medical research, using the imaging equipment (1.5T MR scanner, 64-slice CT etc) to bring about the effective and efficient delivery of diagnosis and treatment to patients.