Image by Satre Stuelke

A CT scan of a McDonald's Big Mac sandwich.

Check out Stuelke’s Web site for more radiology art.

In February I wrote about using CT scans to analyze fossils. Now I have uncovered another unusual application of the technology: Art.

Satre Stuelke, a third-year medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, is putting everyday objects into a scanner and producing works of art.

He told me that during his first year in medical school, he thought about using a CT scanner to “analyze culturally significant objects, looking for some sort of pathology,” much like we scan humans looking for something out of the ordinary.

His Web site now includes dozens of images, including an iPod, a McDonald’s BigMac sandwich, and a Barbie doll (check her out on the left).

A CT scan reveals that Barbie has a “rather detailed skeletal structure, most extensively present in the legs.” Much of Stuelke’s descriptions use the passive voice and anatomical terms of medical imaging. An iPod: “Behind the screen and to the most cephalic extreme of the body, a gray battery pack can be seen …. Note the headphone jack in the upper right part of the image proximal to the battery pack.”

Stuelke attended medical school at the University of Iowa from 1988 to 1990, but dropped out to become an artist. After attending graduate school at the Art Institute of Chicago, he established himself in the art world with a faculty position in New York and more than 60 art shows.

A confluence of events – the September 11, 2001, attacks (which occurred 1,600 meters from his work), a search for obstetricians in preparation for having a baby, and the increasing lack of challenge in the art world – led Stuelke to return to medical school.

Stuelke is now in the unusual position of being a third-year medical student in his fifth year of medical school. He received no credit for the time he spent in Iowa, which might be just as well. He says that he remembers some of his previous medical training, but a lot has changed in 20 years, particularly genetics, immunology, developmental biology and endocrinology.

The university allows him to use an older CT scanner that is only used for research, and only when scientists are not using it. Stuelke remembers asking whether he could put a frozen dinner in the scanner, for artistic purposes. The medical director eventually answered, “we could support the arts.” You can see that result below.

The New York Times covered Stuelke’s work on March 23, and today his pager was beeping with media requests. His attending physician, Dr. Erica Jones, generously gave him the day off, which explains why he had time to speak with me.

After he receives his medical degree, Stuelke plans to specialize in – what else? – radiology.