Main description:

A year from now we commemorate the centenary of The Great War, gone down in history as the first industrial war, a brutal slaughter on a scale never experienced before. In Flanders' Fields and on the French and German front lines an adolescent medical discipline, barely nineteen years old, reached full adulthood: radiology. This diagnostic specialty's unique significance was recognized by all other medical specialties from the first days of its existence. The circumstances of the war propelled radiology's development in ultra-fast forward. In addition to the diagnosis of fracture and disease, the localization of projectiles was its outstanding priority. Antibiotics were not yet in existence; thus the immediate removal of a foreign body was extremely critical since preventing infection was practically the sole guarantee for the healing, if not the survival of the wounded soldier.