Diagnostic imaging in undergraduate medical education: an expanding role

Radiologists have been involved in anatomy instruction for medical students for decades. However, recent technical advances in radiology, such as multiplanar imaging, “virtual endoscopy”, functional and molecular imaging, and spectroscopy, offer new ways in which to use imaging for teaching basic sciences to medical students. The broad dissemination of picture archiving and communications systems is making such images readily available to medical schools, providing new opportunities for the incorporation of diagnostic imaging into the undergraduate medical curriculum. Current reforms in the medical curriculum and the establishment of new medical schools in the UK further underline the prospects for an expanding role for imaging in medical education. This article reviews the methods by which diagnostic imaging can be used to support the learning of anatomy and other basic sciences.