Brain scan ends a career
Thomas KÖpcke, 18, was one of West Germany's more promising young boxers. Just last year the sturdily built youth was runner-up in his nation's junior heavyweight competitions. Now KÖpcke's career has been brought to an abrupt halt by an X-ray device known as the CAT scanner.
During one of the routine, twice-yearly physical examinations required for all boxers under West German regulations, a standard electroencephalogram showed an "irregularity" in KÖpcke's brain-wave pattern. Doctors then used the CAT (for "computerized axial tomography") scanner to make cross-section images of the boxer's...