The decline of analog radiological collection

Abstract

Throughout the 20th century, radiographs and fluoroscopies became essential elements to complete clinical evaluation. Images of the most relevant cases, together with their clinical records, were stored in the radiological collections of the hospitals. Over time, the need for physical space due to the emergence of new equipment, together with the digitization of radiographs and their digital storage, put an end to the collections, many of which were lost in a corner of modern X-ray services. That could have been the history of the analog radiological collection of the Hospital Manuel Arriarán, very prolific while its main supporters, Dr. Julio Hasbún Salamé and his successor Dr. Manuel Mena Castro, were active, but then it was forgotten. However, after a great fire occurred in the Hospital Clínico San Borja-Arriarán (HCSBA) in 2021, among the water and debris of the Radiology Department, the boxes containing the Pediatric Radiological Collection were found. Although a large number of images were also affected, an important part was rescued and digitized. The aim of this manuscript is to describe the history of the analog radiological collection of the HCSBA, showing its contribution to numerous manuscripts published in the Revista Chilena de Pediatría, today Andes Pediatrica, in the last century and, through the images, to review a part of the history of Chilean pediatrics and radiology in the last century.