The History of the American College of Rheumatology Image Library

‘I don’t think people realize how storied an effort the Image Library has been.’ —Dr. Collins

Looking at the long history of the Image Library, he notes the brilliant minds in pathology and rheumatology who shaped the idea of creating a repository of images to teach fellow clinicians and the democratization of this effort to include the entire rheumatology community.

Bilateral scalp necrosis, an unusual finding in giant cell arteritis, is seen in this patient. Scalp necrosis is an uncommon manifestation of giant cell arteritis because of collateral arterial supply to the scalp.

In Sum

As history itself is a great teacher, one lesson that comes to mind when looking at the trajectory of how the ACR Image Library developed and evolved over time is how essential collaboration is to birthing an idea and carrying it forward to maturation.

A striking commonality among all the people who shared experiences of working on the Image Library committee is the strong memory of long hours working together and, notably, with the Bergmans—artists outside the clinical halls of medicine. Much has been written about the benefits of cross fertilization in learning, and perhaps the success of the Image Library over these many years is a testimony not only to the excellent educational tool it is, but also to the educational force that went into the process of creating the bank—visual artists and medical scientists, each bringing their respective craft to a collaborative project that continues to flourish and grow.

The Image Library has helped educate generations of rheumatologists and remains a critical teaching tool. “In the era of biological definitions of illness and, most recently, of telemedicine, careful physical examination remains an essential part of rheumatology (and of all medicine),” says Dr. Lockshin. “These images continue to have great teaching value; they make it possible for physicians to recognize something they may have heard of but have not previously seen and to validate their impressions by comparison with standard models.” 

Mary Beth Nierengarten is a freelance medical journalist based in Minneapolis.

Corrected Oct. 28, 2020: Dr. Sidney Block has not retired. His private practice encompasses northern and eastern Maine.