Preface

It is a great pleasure and privilege for the NICER Institute to present "The NICER Centennial Book 1995 - A Global Textbook of Radiology" to the radiological community. The title may seem somewhat pretentious but we hope that its meaning will be taken as we intended, i.e. to imply that this is a book that may be of assistance to radiologists working in many different situations throughout the world.

Radiology is a vital discipline for modem medicine as a whole and it has undergone an almost explosive development in recent decades. Radiologic investigation of an appropriate nature should be available to any patient who needs it but given the economic and political realities of the world we live in, this state of affairs is, unfortunately, far from being the case. Wherever radiology is available, however, it is essential that those working in the discipline should at least be in the possession of up-to-date basic knowledge and this requirement is the raison d'etre for this book. It is written by highly distinguished, internationally renowned radiologists from all over the world. Together, these authors possess a spectrum of knowledge which embraces, at one extreme, very advanced even futuristic - imaging, and at the other basic radiology which is not only extremely important but encompasses an ever-increasing amount of information and varies in its emphasis and aspect from community to community and continent to continent.

The book is intended to be a broad and thorough up date of what every general radiologist needs to know in his or her daily work whether that be in technically advanced surroundings or in a situation in which only basic equipment is available. It is aimed both at radiologists in training and as a brush-up for general radiologists, as well as for those physicians who refer their patients for radiological investigation. It is also hoped that the book will be used in medical schoo1s throughout the world. The chapters that comprise this work cover most of the vast and fascinating fields in our discpline, - both diagnostic and interventional. The book also represents NICER's contribution to the centennial celebration of radiology which is why it includes an introductory chapter on the discovery of x-rays.

To make the book as broadly available as possible, editions in four world languages will be published during 1995: Chinese, English, Russian and Spanish. It is our sincere hope that the purpose of this endeavour will be fulfilled: that you, the readers around the world, will find this book both instructive and enjoyable to read. It may then make some modest contribution to the improved use of radiological resources which in turn will serve our common goal: good health care, for the benefit of patients everywhere.

Lund, January 1995 Holger Pettersson