How images can enhance patients' understanding

This picture of a berry aneurysm at the base of the brain is the winning image in the Medicine and Life Award category of the 2004 Novartis and Daily Telegraph Visions of Science Photographic Awards. The image, entitled Hanging by a Thread , was produced by Peter Keston, a neuroradiologist from the Centre for Interventional Neuroradiology of Edinburgh, who receives a £500 prize, sponsored by the BMJ . It shows a platinum wire coiled up inside the berry, which has been put there to block the flow of blood. Dr Keston created the image to help patients understand their condition and treatment. Runners-up in the Medicine and Life Award include a scanning electronic micrograph showing what the absorbent side of a plaster collects from a cut, and a close-up of schistosoma parasites, the cause of the tropical disease bilharzia. The exhibition will begin its tour at the Science Museum, London, on 6 October (www.visions-of-science.co.uk).