Some of the significant advances in technology, including medicine, are associated with the military industry; this is how ultrasound is born from the sonar of submarines, the advanced instrument endoscope for the marines, and thus, robotic surgery and compact battery-powered or “ plug & play” diagnostic imaging equipment, etc. Having equipment that provides quality images in radiological tests is necessary for diagnosing possible pathologies in patients and, above all, for it to be more reliable and safe and avoid second medical tests.

During the last decades, we have been testimonies of the technological advances in the process of obtaining digital medical images, and it is that imaging has become a concept that has constantly and vertiginously evolved in the medical sector and, specifically, radiology.

It is also essential to recognise the high adaptability to changes in the industry and the environment of the diagnostic imaging speciality and of medical specialists in it, because in addition to the speed of technological change and the advent of new technologies, we must face the interest of other specialities in “participating” in diagnostic imaging, such as cardiology, obstetrics and orthopaedics – traumatology, generally finding a conciliatory attitude on the part of diagnostic imaging specialists to understand that adequately trained specialists can have limited access to operate modalities of this noble branch.

Diagnostic imaging is of such importance that when planning the construction of a hospital or its purchase, one of the primary services to be evaluated is this since a large part of the diagnostic quality of a hospital lies in the excellent design and operation of the service. Hospital, which, in current concepts of quality, is essential for proper medical performance and is one of the most profitable when adequately managed.

Specialist training and diagnostic imaging have also been subject to significant challenges, secondary to the speed of technological change, the advent of new technologies and other changes that make rapid adaptation necessary in an industry characterised by slow changes and its orthodoxy.

I still remember displays in the newspaper discrediting magnetic resonance imaging as a diagnostic imaging method or teachers denying the goodness of ultrasound simply because they did not understand the image.

Also, great teachings from colleagues who trained me told me that the best “radiologist” is not the one who interprets the most plates or does the most studies, but the one who reads the most, or “the eyes cannot see what the brain does not know”.

Diagnostic imaging specialists have characteristics that make them naturally aspire to administrative positions in hospitals or health systems.

In addition to diagnostic medical skills, we must manage personnel, manage departments, buy technology, interact positively with the medical specialities and know enough to gain credibility with them, among other skills.

In conclusion, facing the future, we must take advantage of all these particular skills of the diagnostic imaging specialist to meet a military technology growing at logarithmic speed, which leads to the advent of technologies that will directly impact our profession. We are not talking about teleradiology, already found in our routine practice, but about ” machine learning” and artificial intelligence, reaching the ” Singularity Moment”, described as the moment in which artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, threatening all highly technical industries.

I think we are clear about how some companies or industries that did not believe in the changes that were taking place practically disappeared, absorbed by others that led the difference. Thus, having all the capacity, attitude and knowledge of the diagnostic imaging industry, we must anticipate and adapt to this wave, staying on its crest and staying current at the spearhead and transforming medical science and medical quality based on proper diagnosis.

But what exactly is an imaging

Imaging, made up of Radiodiagnosis, Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy, is a concept of obtaining images of the human body for clinical and scientific purposes. These techniques include radiology, medical thermography, endoscopy, microscopy, medical photography and electroencephalography.

 Surgeon and Obstetrician from the Autonomous University of New León, specialising in Radiology.  He has been a Director, General Director, Medical Director, Director of Planning and Project Director in the leading group’s hospitals in the country. He is a representative of TECSalud at the COVID-19 Response Center before the Government of Nuevo León. Response Team Leader  TECSalud and Tecnológico de Monterrey in the face of the COVID-19.