![]() ![]() Christian Doppler in 1842 described what we now call the “Doppler effect” in relation to the motion of stars but this principle is now used as the basis for blood flow studies in pelvic vessels and the fetus. Thomas Young in 1801 described “phase shifting” in relation to light waves but this concept is used in ultrasound phased array systems to control interference patterns and is used in the production of 3D images. It would be short-sighted to write about the development of medical ultrasound without mentioning some of the great scientists of the 19th and 20th Century whose conceptual advances paved the way for the modern ultrasound machine. The other unique feature was that these were the first images taken with a compound contact scanner which was the first practical scanning machine.Īll developments of ultrasound diagnosis (or Sonography) in Obstetrics and Gynecology date from this seminal paper and this short history is a personal evaluation of the subsequent timeline of key events and breakthroughs up to the present time. Actually this is an unfortunate title because it does not identify what was truly unique about the paper which is that it was entirely devoted to ultrasound studies in clinical obstetrics and gynaecology and contained the first ultrasound images of the fetus and also gynaecological masses. With Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology there is no such doubt for it had a very definite beginning with the1958 classic Lancet paper (Donald et al., 1958) by Ian Donald, John McVicar, and Tom Brown “The investigation of abdominal masses by pulsed ultrasound”. ![]() ![]() They tend to evolve and many people will claim the credit of being the first to make the breakthrough. It is often difficult to know when most developments in medicine actually begin. This concise history is written by someone who has witnessed each of these advances throughout the ultrasound era and is able to give perspective to these momentous happenings. Ultrasound guided procedures are now essential components of fetal therapy and IVF treatment. Technological developments such as solid state circuitry, real time imaging, colour and power Doppler, transvaginal sonography and 3/4D imaging have been seized by clinical researchers to enhance the investigation and management of patients in areas as diverse as assessment of fetal growth and wellbeing, screening for fetal anomalies, prediction of pre-eclampsia and preterm birth, detection of ectopic gestation, evaluation of pelvic masses, screening for ovarian cancer and fertility management. Fifty years on it is impossible to conceive of practising Obstetrics and Gynaecology without one of the many forms of ultrasound available today. The history of sonography in Obstetrics and Gynaecology dates from the classic 1958 Lancet paper of Ian Donald and his team from Glasgow. ![]()
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