Week 4: Medicine and Art

This weeks topic was very interesting to me. I enjoy how each week has built upon the last week, and this week's topic was no different. While reviewing MRI as Mirror and Portrait by Casini I came to the conclusion that without art, medicine would not be on the same level that it is at. For example, an MRI image gives a detailed breakdown layer by layer of a humans muscle or tendon. For a doctor to be able to come to an accurate conclusion on the diagnosis of the treatment as well as come to a conclusion on what is going on with the muscle or tendon, they must be able to have a clear view of this muscle or tendon. Without the advancement of art with incredible images from MRI's doctors would not be able to make an accurate diagnosis. Medicine as we know it would not be nearly as accurate and able as it is now. Doctors would not know whether a patient had a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) without performing surgery on the patient and looking at the tendon. This is a huge risk and would be such a guessing game that the repair of torn tendons or muscles would not be possible. There are so many incidences of torn ligaments and to think that this would not be treatable would be incredibly difficult. Our society would be set back decades and maybe even half centuries. 

MRI of a torn ACL

  Another part of medicine and art that I think is unbelievable are ultrasounds. The ability to be able to take a live feed of a baby developing is remarkable. It is truly remarkable. The photographs and live feed are definitely something to behold and I think that this is the most remarkable connection between medicine and art. 

Ultrasound of a baby 12 weeks in

  X-rays and CAT scans are very interesting to me as well and I do believe that they demonstrate a clear correlation between medicine and art, but as I aforementioned, ultrasounds as well as MRI's are what sets apart art and medicine. 

X-ray Image of two hands

Works Cited:

Casini, Silvia. "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts."Configurations 19.1 (2011): 73-99. Print.

“Magnetic Resonance Imaging" Wikipedia. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging>.

“MRI Scan" Medicine Net. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.medicinenet.com/mri_scan/article.htm>.

"What is an Ultrasound" Ultrasound Net. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/>.

“X-Ray." Wikipedia. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray>.