The internet era gives clinicians unprecedented access to clinical images for learning and teaching purposes – and no matter how old some of us may be, we all remain students until the end.
Here are some useful clinical image collections for use primarily by doctors in emergency medicine and intensive care medicine. Of course, being disciples of the ‘Open Source Messiah’, the emphasis is firmly on free-to-use resources. An updated index will be maintained here.
Clinical Image Collections Online
Clinicalcases.org – The definitive online case-based medical learning website includes links to the best images from some of the major general medical journals -especially the NEJM, Lancet and BMJ. The site is organised by specialty with a link to the images below the lists of cases. Here are the clinical image specialty links for ready reference:
- Catalog of Clinical Images — UCSD’s high quality collection of photographs of physical examination findings by anatomical region.
- HEAL — Health Education Assets Library (HEAL) is a hugely impressive digital repository that allows medical educators to discover, download, and re-use over 22,000 medical education resources, including images and videos. Registration is free.
- Trauma Image Database — A categorized collection of trauma-related images from Trauma.org.
- PhotoRounds — Brief ‘test yourself’ clinical images best viewed as ‘unknowns’.
- Eye Atlas Online — A beautifully presented database of images of eye diseases crafted in Italy.
- DermisNet, DermNet, and DermNet NZ — Being such a visually-orientated specialty it is not surprising that there are an abundance of quality dermatology image collections out there. These are my favourites for when I need to clinch a diagnosis of ‘aplasia cutis congenita circumscripta‘…
Life in the Fast Lane — VAQs and Clinical Cases and Case-based Q&As.
Clinical Images from Medical Journals
No journal subscriptions are needed to access any of these resources:
NEJM Featured Images in Clinical Medicine — the classic web-only series from the New England Journal of Medicine – alternatively, try the addictive NEJM Image Challenge.
- CMAJ Clinical Images — The search results for ‘clinical images’ – open access classic, dramatic or note-worthy clinical images from the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.
- Clinical Pearls: Photographic Case Reports — a collection from the journal Academic Emergency Medicine.
- Diagnosis at a Glance – The entire series from Emergency Medicine.
Images in Emergency Medicine — Much of this collection of images from this series in the Annals of Emergency Medicine can be accessed free online.
Clinical Imaging – Radiology and Ultrasonography
Emergency medicine-orientated:
EMPACS — Emergency Medicine Picture Archiving & Communication System – This is an impressive resource providing annotated images relevant to emergency settings from all modalities (USS, XR, CT, MRI, etc). Registration is free and all images may be reused if appropriately referenced to empacs.org. It even features a quiz mode.
- On Call Radiology — A set of teaching files to identify common radiology findings on call and in the Emergency room. The site includes an image catalogue.
- The Image Browser from the excellent Ultrasound Guide for Emergency Medicine — Not many images, but too cool to leave out. The image browser is only a small part of the best online resource for emergency medicine ultrasound currently available (reviewed here on LitFL).
Other radiology resources:
- Cases from The Radiology Assistant — This Dutch website is impressive… Its a great way to learn radiology.
- LearningRadiology.com — There is a massive ‘Case of the Week’ archive as well as an image index.
- Interpretation of the ICU Chest Film — An excellent beginner’s guide to to the sometimes bewildering chest film in intensive care.
Pediatric radiology resources:
- Radiology Cases in Pediatric Emergency Medicine — an aging but otherwise impressive set of teaching files from the University of Hawaii.
- Pediatric Radiology — A collection of annotated images from the Cleveland Clinic that covers the core curriculum required for pediatric radiologists.
- Pedrad.info — Pediatric Radiology information, publication and communication platform. Includes an Index, Case of the Day and Most Interesting Cases.
Pathology, Microbiology and Parasitology
- PathWeb — it is no small mercy for docs in the ED and ICU that we rarely have to look pathological specimens, but if you ever need to, this massive database is a good place to go.
- DPDx Parasite Image Library — A superbly presented collection of parasite images from the CDC.
- Malaria — An excellent resource from Royal Perth Hospital for learning how to identify malaria parasites on blood films.
If you know of other image-based web resources that deserve to be on this list please leave a comment below!
About Chris Nickson
Great list! Perhaps one other to add is HEAL http://www.healcentral.org/ -- they have clinical images, anatomy illustrations, histology slides and other educational resources. You need to create an account but it’s free to register.
Thanks for the tip Natalie. I’m waiting for my registration to come through then will check it out. If it lives up to your recommendation I’ll definitely add it to the index.
Cheers,
Chris
Gret blog!.. excellent!
The absolutely, positively best clinical imaging site I know is Sonoguide (www.sonoguide.com). It’s sponsored by the American College of Emergency Physicians, but does not require any registration. Sonoguide offers a complete introduction to many of the emergency department uses of sonographic imaging, as well as a great collection of abnormal studies. I find it invaluable when teaching residents and medical students — I can review (hopefully) normal anatomy on a student volunteer, and then show, say, what a positive FAST scan looks like . Sonoguide is the Kim Yu-Na of medical imaging sites.
Sonoguide is the same site mentioned above as “Ultrasound Guide for Emergency Medicine”. I find the rest of the site actually much more useful than the image browser.
I agree Leon -- I reviewed that excellent site here http://lifeinthefastlane.com/2009/10/ultrasound-guide-for-emergency-physicians/
I’ve updated Clinical Images Online with the actual site on your suggestion. I initially left it out because it is more than just an images resource. But I agree, its probably too good to ignore!
Thanks,
Chris