Medical Imaging in the Digital Age: Fusing the Real and the Imagined

‘To predict the future we need logic, but we also need faith and imagination which can sometimes defy logic itself’, noted Arthur C. Clarke.1 As we become more intimate with technology we realise how much our lives, and the understanding of our lives, has improved, while new questions and issues that need addressing were brought to light. Our particular work relies on the use of medical imaging and computer simulation technologies to enable the scientist and the physician to better the understanding of the human body and the ways it functions, by visualising phenomena otherwise not accessible to the naked eye. Technology is an ubiquitous and versatile presence, well on its way to becoming a means of communication per se, while being the support of our culture as well as its fabric, the bond, the tie holding it together; a culture allowing the real and the virtual merging and blending harmoniously in our daily lives. In this paper we review aspects encountered in our own research, reflecting upon the changes in our perception of medical imaging, the developments (up until 2008) of the technology, and potential future paths to be followed or led by technology. “[La méthode graphique] tend à élargir son domaine et à s’appliquer à toutes sortes d’objets, portant partout avec elle l’éxactitude, la concision et la clarté.” Étienne Jules Marey