A Brain Read Online Free

a ruler-straight nose and expressive mouth. His eyes were a lively light blue, and they, more than anything else, reflected his basic intelligence. He’d graduated summa cum laude from Harvard, class of 1961.
    The cathode-ray tube on the output console came to life as the first image appeared. The technician hastily adjusted the window width and the density to give the best image. The medical students crowded around the small TV-like screen as if they were about to see the Super Bowl, but the picture they saw was oval with a white border and a granular interior. It was a computer-constructed image of the inside of the patient’s head, positioned as if someone was looking down on Mr. Schiller after the top of his skull had been removed.
    Martin glanced at his watch. It was a quarter to eight. He was counting on Dr. Denise Sanger to arrive at any moment and take over shepherding the medical students. What really was on Philips’ mind this morning was a meeting with his research collaborator, William Michaels. Michaels had called the day before, saying that he was coming over early in the morning with a little surprise for Philips. By now Martin’s curiosity had been honed to a razor’s edge, and the suspense was killing him. For four years the two men had been working on a program to enable a computer to read skull X rays, replacing the radiologist. The problem was in programming the machine to make qualitative judgments about the densities of specific areas of X rays. If they could succeed, the rewards would be incredible. Since the problems of interpreting skull X rays were essentially the same asinterpreting other X rays, the program would be eventually adaptable to the entire field of radiology. And if they accomplished that . . . Philips occasionally let himself dream of having his own research department, and even the Nobel Prize.
    The next image appeared on the screen bringing Philips’ mind back to the present.
    â€œThis slice is thirteen millimeters higher than the previous image,” intoned the technician. With his finger, he pointed to the bottom section of the oval. “Here we have the cerebellum and . . .”
    â€œThere’s an abnormality,” said Philips.
    â€œWhere?” asked the technician, who was seated on a small stool in front of the computer.
    â€œHere,” said Philips, squeezing in so that he could point. His finger touched the area the technician had just described as the cerebellum. “This lucency here in the right cerebellar hemisphere is abnormal. It should have the same density as the other side.”
    â€œWhat is it?” asked one of the students.
    â€œHard to say at this point,” said Philips. He leaned over to look at the questionable area more closely. “I wonder if the patient has any gait problem?”
    â€œYes, he does,” said the technician. “He’s been ataxic for a week.”
    â€œProbably a tumor,” said Philips, standing back up.
    The faces of all four medical students immediately reflected dismay as they stared at the innocent lucency on the screen. On the one hand they were thrilled to see a positive demonstration of the power of modern diagnostic technology. On the other hand, they were frightened by the concept of a brain tumor; the idea that anybody could have one; even they.
    The next image began to wipe off the previous one.
    â€œHere’s another area of lucency in the temporallobe,” said Philips, quickly pointing to an area already being replaced by the next image. “We’ll see it better on the next slice. But we are going to need a contrast study.”
    The technician got up and went in to inject contrast material into Mr. Schiller’s vein.
    â€œWhat does the contrast material do?” asked Nancy McFadden.
    â€œIt helps outline lesions like tumors when the blood brain barrier is broken down,” said Philips, who had turned to see who was