Pattern Recognition and Radiology

[brianwilson]

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Just a simple question, i'm pretty good at recognizing visual patterns. Even as a child i used to be able to tell the model of a car at night just by looking at their headlights! lol. I was wondering, does this mean i'd become a good radiologist? Is radiology based primarily on pattern recognition?

 

[doepug]

Pattern recognition is certainly a valuable skill that would help in radiology. You'll need many more attributes to be a successful radiologist, but being able to recognize and classify what you see is an advantage that definitely helps. Perhaps the best radiologists I know don't have a particularly good eye... but they know precisely what they're looking at when they see it.

There are some people who have "the eye" ...they can see the most subtle finding with a quick glance, but they tend to be few and far between. In my program, we all know the few people in the department who can see what others miss.

You'll need more than visual skills to succeed, but this will put you a little ahead of the curve if it pans out. Good luck!