Sonography is a medical imaging technique that uses sound waves to create an image of the inside of the body. It can be used for various purposes, such as diagnosis and monitoring. This article will provide an overview of sonography history and how it has evolved in recent years.
The application of ultrasound within the medical field started just after the end of the Second World War in different centers across the world through Dr.Karl Theodore Dussik’s efforts in 1942 in Austria while he was investigating the transmission of ultrasound of the brain. This led to the publication of the first medical ultrasonic paper. Since then, the field of sonography has evolved rapidly to what it is now—a non-invasive procedure that can be used to diagnose various conditions with minimal discomfort for the patients.
Since the mid-sixties going forward, the discovery of commercially existing systems paved the way for the larger dissemination of such art. Technological advancements in piezoelectric materials and electronics further offered significant improvements from the bistable to greyscale images and still images to actual time moving images. Thus, the field of sonography was pushed further ahead.
Such technological advancements during that time resulted in faster growth and developments in the application of ultrasound. The emergence of Doppler ultrasound has been progressive with imaging technology. This has broadened the scope and utility of sonography as it can be used to monitor blood flow. Furthermore, the use of lenses such as endocyclic and exocyclic fibers enabled better imaging capabilities, especially within the field of the gastrointestinal system.
The BMUS Historical Collection was begun in 1984, which is a document and exhibit that interprets various artifacts, among other materials concerning therapeutic and diagnostic ultrasound in the United Kingdom. The present collection involves the original papers, manufacturers’ documents, films, images, audiotapes & videos, among other artifacts. Additionally, there is a Modern History of Ultrasound museum situated at the Glasgow Centre, for which it has been described as “one of the earliest ultrasound machines from the 1960s”.
In conclusion, sonography has made significant advancements in the past few decades and continues to do so. It is continuously growing and expanding its scope of application. The present decade, for example, sees the introduction of various diagnostic modalities such as 3D ultrasound that would further revolutionize this field.