Art and Radiology Intersect in 2017 RSNA Image Contest

Much like beauty, art is in the eye of the beholder. When viewing art, each of us will have our own interpretation. And interpretation — on the part of the viewer and the artist — was key to the submissions and winners of the online 2017 RSNA Image Contest.

More than 275 creative submissions from around the world were judged in three categories: Radiology Art, Radiology Hobbies and Best Photo.

This was the fourth year of the RSNA Image Contest that asked radiologists to go beyond their daily medical imaging and demonstrate their artistic flair. Throughout October, visitors were invited to view submissions on the RSNA website and vote for their favorites. Top vote-getters were announced during the annual meeting and the top five winners in each category were on display at RSNA 2017 and posted online (see Web Extras).

For Yu Luo, PhD, MD, who placed first in the Best Photo category with his submission, “Planet Crowded Outer Space” and second in the Radiology Art category with his submission, “Low Dose ‘High Resolution’ CT Scan,” revealing the beauty beyond the limitations of the naked eye is something radiologists do every day.

“I always try to extract as much information as possible from images, so while I am doing my job, I also may notice little extras, such as the text on the patient’s shirt seen in my Radiology Art submission,” said Dr. Luo, chief of pediatric musculoskeletal radiology at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt University, Nashville. “I’m always amazed by how much information is in a CT scan — even beyond the medical imagery.”

Revealing the potential design within an image was a new experience for the winner of the Radiology Art category, Junren Ong, Radiographer from Sengkang General Hospital, Singapore. “Prior to this image contest, I would have expressed doubts about what a radiology image can do other than answer clinical questions,” Mr. Ong said. “Now I see that radiology art can be make a statement and communicate thoughts and feelings in a different way.”

Artwork Can Educate Patients

Communicating in a different way is at the crux of many of the submissions, since the image work that radiologists do on a daily basis is often black-and-white, literally.

“When we produce materials to show data or ideas, radiologists focus on accuracy and being concise, but we are rarely influenced by whether or not the material is visually appealing,” said Belén Del Rio, MD, a radiology resident at Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa Hospital, Barcelona, Spain and winner of the Radiology Hobbies category for his submission, “Need to Know: Adrenal, Renal and Hepatic Pediatric Malignancies.” “With my drawings, I try to present the same information in a way that is simple and attractive, and I believe this helps to educate the audience.”

Many RSNA Image Contest participants agree that such contests can help patients, and even other physicians, better understand radiology.

Dr. Luo, who shares his creations in photography and video on Instragram (@yu.luo.01), knows that art can have a big impact on patient understanding.

“When I showed patients my submission where the CT revealed the text on a t-shirt, they were amazed and asked questions not just about the submission, but about the technology,” Dr. Luo said. “That is where art and radiology intersect, at the point where a patient’s questions move from, ‘How did you do that?’ to ‘What can this machine do and how does the radiologist use it to help me?’”

Dr. Del Rio, who has always been an enthusiast of illustration and graphic design and posts rel="noopener noreferrer" his designs on Twitter (@sketchradiology), would agree. “I think that presenting information in a graphic way makes understanding easier,” Dr. Del Rio said. “Since radiologists link concepts with images, this has helped me in my training to remember ideas and can also help patients understand what we do in radiology.”

Web Extras

• View all images submitted for the RSNA 2017 Image Contest at RSNA.org/Image-Contest.