• Question: How would they analyse the human brain and baby brain before ct scan exicted?

    Asked by valery to Deborah, Euan, Maheen, Rob, Stu on 21 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Maheen Siddiqui

      Maheen Siddiqui answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      Hi valery,

      Thanks for the interesting question!

      I think it would have been quite hard to get a brain scan before. There were other techniques that existed, for example EEG (or electroencephalography) which doesn’t really give you a brain scan but can tell you about activity that is taking place in the brain. I suppose this can be used for diagnostic purposes for example if someone has had a head injury to check if a particular part of the brain is working or not!

      Additionally, in the early 1900s there was a technique developed called angiography whereby both normal and abnormal blood vessels in and around the brain could be visualized with great accuracy.

      You can check out the history of neuroimaging here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_neuroimaging

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