The Museum of Medicine and Health : Mammography X-ray Tube

The Museum of Medicine and Health

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This glass X-ray tube for mammography dates from the 1970s and was used at the Christie Cancer Hospital in Manchester. Mammography has developed as a screening technique to detect early breast cancer since the 1950s. Special X-ray tubes that emit ‘soft’ longer wave X-rays are combined with a type of sensitive X-ray film to safely visualise the soft tissues of the breasts.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The Christie Hospital was founded as the ‘Cancer Pavilion’ in 1892, and, at the time, was the only hospital outside of London that specialised in the treatment of cancer. During the 1930-40s, Dr Ralston Paterson (1897-1981), director of radiotherapy, with his wife Dr Edith Paterson (1900-1995), built its reputation into that of a world-class facility. Together with physicist Herbert Parker (1910-1984), they developed in 1932 the ‘Paterson-Parker method’ or ‘Manchester System’, for radiation therapy, the first international standard for the use of radium in cancer treatment.</p>