Medical art is the creative depiction of medicine, of diagnosis and treatment. Historically and culturally disease has had many faces, and the approach to the diagnosis and treatment has differed with the context of and knowledge of the time. Artinbiology.com contains elements of the history of medicine and of cultural folklore, descriptors of morphological changes that reflect shapes of animals, foods, weapons, and inanimate objects, and art renderings of medical technology.
Basic diseases reflected and represented in art include infection (viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic), growth disorders (benign disease, cancer, malignancy), mechanical disorders (obstruction), trauma, metabolic diseases (diabetes, thyroid disorders, gallstones, kidney stones), circulatory disorders, (hemorrhage, infarction, embolic disease, thrombosis, ischemia, stroke, vascular malformations, shock, heart failure, hypertension, aneurysmal disease, dissection atherosclerosis), immune disease (autoimmune, immune deficiency, collagen vascular disease), inherited disorders (diabetes), and congenital diseases.
Both normal and abnormal structures have innate beauty. Special stains used in microscopic evaluation create colorful and striking patterns. Specific colors and shapes are used imaginatively to express themes, moods, emotions or nature scenes for example. Colors can reflect disease or states of mood. Black reflects melanoma (skin malignancy), acanthosis nigricans (diabetes, paraneoplastic syndrome), aspergillus niger (black mold), and black bile (melancholy) . Inflammations and hot situations are red. Blue suggests depression. Death is cold and white. Green is immature. Rendering the different shades with color and contrast create aesthetically appealing images. X-ray and CT scans use X-ray attenuation, MRI uses electromagnetic forces, and ultrasound uses high frequency sound to create contrast differences between structures and between normal and diseased structures. The ability to reconstruct the images in 3D further deepens the potential of diagnostic imaging to construct art pieces.
Artistic renderings of symptoms such as pain can be helpful to overcome language barriers and communication disorders. Some types of pain are pathognomonic for certain disorders and if accurately described enable precise diagnosis and therefore appropriate therapy. Pain has many variations, and can be described as sharp, dull, burning, searing, pressure, “elephant on my chest,†lightning, pricking stabbing, or colicky.
Descriptors of morphological changes in disease have used foods, animals, and inanimate objects to describe the alteration in size, shape or character allowing the artist free reign of creative license. Strawberry gallbladder, berry aneurysm, apple core cancer, scalloping of vertebra, eggshell calcification (sarcoidosis), linguine sign (degenerated breast implants), donut sign, popcorn calcification (hamartoma), honeycomb lung (pulmonary fibrosis), and omental cake (peritoneal metastases) are just a few examples relating to food. Fish mouth deformity, cauda equina (horse tail) syndrome, cancer (crab), swan neck deformity (rheumatoid arthritis), Scotty dog (for the evaluation of spondylolysis), beak sign (sigmoid volvulus), rat tail sign (achalasia), stag horn calculus (kidney stone), cobra head (ureterocele in the bladder) are examples relating to animals. Saber trachea (emphysema), target signs (metastases in the liver), water bottle stomach (linitis plastic of gastric carcinoma), water bottle sign (pericardial effusion), salt and pepper sign (skull in myeloma), goblet sign (ureteral carcinoma), pencil and cup sign (psoriatic arthritis) are among many other graphic descriptors that use common experience to describe radiological findings in disease. Categories in artinbiology.com such as “Food in the Body” and “Animals in the Body” contain examples of how the artist uses images and imagery to express these observations in the medical world.
Time and space have essential relevance in health and disease. Cancer cells lose all sense of time and the cells do not know when to die losing apoptotic ability. They also multiply very quickly and take up valuable space. Incubation period of infections, duration of symptoms, abnormal cyclical patterns and half life of drugs have relevance to diagnosis therapy and prognosis.
Correlates of disease in the body occur in our society. Congested highways are similar to congested blood vessels, resulting in slow flow and a buildup of fluid or traffic. A rebel in the community who occupies space without contributing to society and who has no regard for the welfare of the community is a cancer and harms everyone.
The immune system, like the police system, recognizes and impounds criminals. If weakened, the body is overrun by unwanted invaders. Acute pancreatitis is an act of chemical warfare on the surrounding structures. A snowstorm that results in power loss shares the devastating consequences of heart block caused by a failed electrical conduction system in the heart. A government that is not in touch with the people is like a brain that is not in touch with the organs. Disregard of the rights of the individual cells that make up the society of the organ leads to a weak organ. These medical examples are rich resources for artistic expression.
Medical art is the creative depiction of medicine, of diagnosis and treatment. Historically and culturally disease has had many faces, and the approach to the diagnosis and treatment has differed with the context of and knowledge of the time. Artinanatomy.com contains elements of the history of medicine and of cultural folklore, descriptors of morphological changes that reflect shapes of animals, foods, weapons, and inanimate objects, and art renderings of medical technology.
Basic diseases reflected and represented in art include infection (viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic), growth disorders (benign disease, cancer, malignancy), mechanical disorders (obstruction), trauma, metabolic diseases (diabetes, thyroid disorders, gallstones, kidney stones), circulatory disorders, (hemorrhage, infarction, embolic disease, thrombosis, ischemia, stroke, vascular malformations, shock, heart failure, hypertension, aneurysmal disease, dissection atherosclerosis), immune disease (autoimmune, immune deficiency, collagen vascular disease), inherited disorders (diabetes), and congenital diseases.
Both normal and abnormal structures have innate beauty. Special stains used in microscopic evaluation create colorful and striking patterns. Specific colors and shapes are used imaginatively to express themes, moods, emotions or nature scenes for example. Colors can reflect disease or states of mood. Black reflects melanoma (skin malignancy), acanthosis nigricans (diabetes, paraneoplastic syndrome), aspergillus niger (black mold), and black bile (melancholy) . Inflammations and hot situations are red. Blue suggests depression. Death is cold and white. Green is immature. Rendering the different shades with color and contrast create aesthetically appealing images. X-ray and CT scans use X-ray attenuation, MRI uses electromagnetic forces, and ultrasound uses high frequency sound to create contrast differences between structures and between normal and diseased structures. The ability to reconstruct the images in 3D further deepens the potential of diagnostic imaging to construct art pieces.
Artistic renderings of symptoms such as pain can be helpful to overcome language barriers and communication disorders. Some types of pain are pathognomonic for certain disorders and if accurately described enable precise diagnosis and therefore appropriate therapy. Pain has many variations, and can be described as sharp, dull, burning, searing, pressure, “elephant on my chest,” lightning, pricking stabbing, or colicky.
Descriptors of morphological changes in disease have used foods, animals, and inanimate objects to describe the alteration in size, shape or character allowing the artist free reign of creative license. Strawberry gallbladder, berry aneurysm, apple core cancer, scalloping of vertebra, eggshell calcification (sarcoidosis), linguine sign (degenerated breast implants), donut sign, popcorn calcification (hamartoma), honeycomb lung (pulmonary fibrosis), and omental cake (peritoneal metastases) are just a few examples relating to food. Fish mouth deformity, cauda equina (horse tail) syndrome, cancer (crab), swan neck deformity (rheumatoid arthritis), Scotty dog (for the evaluation of spondylolysis), beak sign (sigmoid volvulus), rat tail sign (achalasia), stag horn calculus (kidney stone), cobra head (ureterocele in the bladder) are examples relating to animals. Saber trachea (emphysema), target signs (metastases in the liver), water bottle stomach (linitis plastic of gastric carcinoma), water bottle sign (pericardial effusion), salt and pepper sign (skull in myeloma), goblet sign (ureteral carcinoma), pencil and cup sign (psoriatic arthritis) are among many other graphic descriptors that use common experience to describe radiological findings in disease. Categories in artinbiology.com such as “Food in the Body†and “Animals in the Body†contain examples of how the artist uses images and imagery to express these observations in the medical world.