THE RISE AND FALL OF A RADIOLOGIC TECHNIQUE

As young radiologists read the slightly self-satisfied articles celebr ating the centennial of radiology, they may conclude that the course o f radiology and all its components has been smoothly upward, without h esitations, false starts, or disappointments. Older radiologists know better, The replacement of a less satisfactory technique with a better one is a gain for both patients and physicians, but the replacement p rocess itself can be distressing, Much of what radiology residents lea rned in the 1950s and 1960s is no longer of any use, Who now employs p neumoencephalography or intravenous cholangiography? Entire books were once written about these procedures [1, 2]. Who can now credit the re liance once placed on positive-contrast maxillary antrography [3]? Few have even heard of eustachian tubography [4], Radiologists who tried to make a career using those techniques learned to their sorrow that a lthough anatomy is permanent and diseases change only slowly, techniqu es are often ephemeral, Total body opacification, a technique once of consuming interest to the present writers [5-7], is an illustration of this.