Screening for Diffuse and Focal Liver Disease: A Surgeon's Viewpoint

✍ Scribed by Edward M. Copeland; III

• Book ID: 102332201
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 194 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0091-2751
• DOI: 10.1002/jcu.1870120205

✦ Synopsis

As I look at various transverse sections of human anatomy created by computed tomography (CT), I hope that all my radiology colleagues made excellent grades in embryology as college students. How well I recall attempting to reconstruct the pig embryo from transverse and sagittal sections viewed through the microscope.

The image seen with ultrasound is not as clear anatomically as that seen with CT. Sagittal sections are readily available, however, and as I look at both, I am increasingly impressed at the need to teach more, not less, human anatomy in medical school.

The surgeon, particularly the oncologic surgeon, is an anatomist and, in the operating room, needs the best available images of soft tissue and vascular anatomy. The CT and selective angiography with careful attention to the venous phase provide the most information. Seldom does the surgeon have the luxury of a radiologist present in the operating room.

Radiologists often have an innate aptitude to think three dimensionally from images obtained in one or two dimensions. All are trained to do so; some are better than others. Each radiology department has one or two "stalwarts" who are sought by the surgeons to read or double check radiographs of their patients. These physicians are usually the most knowledgeable anatomists and best three-dimensional thinkers. Surgeons are not specifically trained to think three dimensionally and, therefore, need the aid of their radiology colleagues for image interpretation.