Peter Kerley

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Sir Peter Kerley (1900–1978) was a radiologist from Dundalk, Ireland and a graduate of University College Dublin (1923). He spent a year training in radiology in Vienna. He obtained his M.D. from the University of Ireland, in 1939. He was Director of Radiology at the Westminster Hospital and was also affiliated with the Royal Chest Hospital, London. He had a ready wit, enjoyed life outdoors and had a flair for diagnosing the unusual. In 1959 he became a member of honour of the Chicago Radiological Society, and in 1962 he was made a Fellow of Honour of the Faculty of Radiologists, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin. The Sir Peter Kerley Lecture of the Royal College of Radiologists is named for him.

He discovered several of the medical signs used in interpreting radiographs. Kerley B lines are a finding of congestive heart failure. These are short parallel lines perpendicular to the lateral lung surface, indicative of increased opacity in the pulmonary septa. Kerley A lines and Kerley C lines are related findings.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the 1970s in recognition of his services to Radiology and as Radiologist to the Royal Family.