The Development of Ultrasound Machines

by Nicholas

Big thanks to the evolving technology in quick manner, ultrasound machines have shown to be quite effective and useful in accurately diagnosis underlying conditions and diseases. People nowadays don’t have to bear with time consuming and painful diagnosis techniques used back in those old days. In the early days, Medical Sonar (Sound Navigation and Ranging) is also regarded as ultrasound scanner.

In 1794, Lazzaro Spallanzani from Italy discovered how bats can accurately navigate in the dark using echo reflection from inaudible sound in high frequency. Dr. Jean-Daniel Colladon from Switzerland at the other hand found out the speed of sound in Lake Geneva by using a bell underwater back in 1826. But the fundamental physics of sound waves, refraction, propagation and transmission had been identified by physicists only during the later 1800s.

Old Ultrasound Machine

Old Ultrasound Machine

The discovery of piezo-electric effect by Pierre Curie and Jacques Curie from France in 1880 marked the breakthrough of the development in ultrasound application. Since then, people started to realize that ultrasound generation and receiving is in megahertz. However the very first sonar detection system was used in measuring distance using sound waves underwater.

In 1942, Dr. Karl Theodore Dussik from Austria investigated transmission ultrasound in the brain. He published several interesting findings ultrasonics in medical diagnosis. Dr. Ian Donald started working on experiments involving the industrial ultrasonic metal flaw detector on July 21, 1955. He was the one who proved that sonar is very effective in detecting and differentiating fibroids, abdominal tumors and cysts. The works of Dr. Ian Donald and his colleagues from Glasgow have led to the wider use of the ultrasound in present medical practice.

New Ultrasound Machine

New Ultrasound Machine

Ever since then, more commercial system such as bistable and greyscale images were made available in medical and non-medical cases. Besides, combination of Duplex scanning and Colour scanning leaded to the development of Doppler ultrasound. Believe it or not, you can even see your blood flow through the vessels of the body with ultrasound machine. With the creation of the microchip in the 1970s, 2D and 4D imaging are wide used nowadays in medical field.

Today there are several types of ultrasound available. The type of scanning is determined by the current condition and the body organ of the patient that needs to be diagnosed. However, they are relatively safe and convenient to be used. The procedures are very simple and require not preparation from patients. Patients can immediately resume to normal activities right after the scanning as it is non-invasive and painless.

History of Ultrasound Machines

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