A History of Ultrasound
October is Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month, which was founded in the 1990s to celebrate the importance of medical ultrasound and promote awareness with the general public. Ultrasound technology is a crucial tool for health screening, diagnosis, and monitoring. It has a variety of uses, including prenatal care, injury assessment, and vascular care.
Ultrasound is widely used in the healthcare field today because it is safe and noninvasive with no known side effects. Ultrasound uses Doppler technology to create sound waves that penetrate the tissues to help create images of what is going on inside the body.
This technology has a rich and varied history. Ultrasound was originally developed in 1917 by the French physicist Paul Langevin to detect submerged submarines, and this became the basis of sonar technology. It was not until the 1940s that it was used as a medical diagnostic tool by Austrian physician Karl Dussik and his physicist brother, Friedrich Dussik, to generate images of the brain.
Joan P. Baker: Pioneering the Sonographer Profession
Ultrasound would not be as prevalent today without the highly skilled sonographers and technologists who conduct ultrasound exams. The profession exists in large part thanks to Joan P. Baker, a pioneer in the field of ultrasound who has advocated for it from the start. She is the co-founder of the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) and was a founding chair of the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (ARDMS).
Born in England in 1942, Joan took radiographer training in 1960 and shortly thereafter began conducting ultrasound exams at one of the best neurological hospitals in the U.K. at the time, the National Hospital of Nervous Diseases. Ultrasound technology was still in its infancy at the time, and hospital leaders had delegated ultrasound exams to Joan without knowing the impact this technology would have in the healthcare field.
Joan’s expertise earned her an invitation to Stanford in 1969, where she was the resident expert in ultrasound. Looking to meet others in the field, she attended a conference in Canada hosted by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. It was there that she met future SDMS co-founder L.E. Schnitzer. They launched the society, then called the American Society of Ultrasound Technical Specialists, in October of 1970.
Joan went on to advance the field of ultrasound with tenacious advocacy. She battled to have sonographer recognized as an allied health profession with the U.S. Office of Education and the American Medical Association – and won that battle in 1973. Joan also recognized the importance of keeping high educational standards at a time when training programs were incomplete and unregulated for the new field. ARDMS was a spin-off of the examination committee of SDMS and focused on training highly skilled sonographers and technologists. To this day, ARDMS provides certification for sonographers, including registered vascular technologists in the United States.
Over the years, Joan has educated hundreds of students and become a champion of sonography ergonomics. She just recently retired as the president of Sound Ergonomics; a company dedicated to improving the occupational health of sonographers through workplace assessments. It is thanks to Joan and the organizations she helped create that sonography is a recognized allied health profession with highly skilled, certified technologists who provide excellent care.
The Importance of Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month
Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month is sponsored by the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS), the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (ARDMS), the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE), Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI), and the Society for Vascular Ultrasound (SVU).
The purpose of Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month is to highlight the importance of ultrasound technology in healthcare. It is focused on education, collaboration, recognition of sonographers, and advancements in ultrasound technology. There are several scientific journals dedicated to the advancement of ultrasound. These include the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, Ultrasonography, and the Journal for Vascular Ultrasound.
Vascular Ultrasound Services by Mint Medical
Mint Medical specializes in Vascular Ultrasound Services and is proud to support Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month. We have been providing excellent vascular care for patients for decades and use state-of-the-art technologies to provide consistent results, time after time.
All our screening and diagnostic exams are performed by Registered Vascular Technologists (RVTs), who receive credentials from the ARDMS and complete regular continuing education. We perform more than 30,000 diagnostic exams annually at our partner labs and at Inview Imaging in Oakland, California. For more information on the exams we offer, click here.
Guest Contributor: Jordan Galerkin
Sources:
- Celebrate Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month. American Society of Echocardiography. https://www.asecho.org/muam/
- Joan Baker and Sonography. Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography. https://www.sdms.org/about/who-we-are/joan-baker-and-sonography
- Karl Dussik, Pioneer in Ultrasound. Obstetric Ultrasound History. https://www.ob-ultrasound.net/dussikbio.html
- Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month. Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography. https://www.sdms.org/resources/muam
- Sonographer, Educator, Pioneer and Ergonomics Expert, Joan P. Baker. Ultrasound Schools Info. https://www.ultrasoundschoolsinfo.com/joan-p-baker/
- Speech by Joan Baker. American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography. https://www.ardms.org/joanbakerspeech/
- Types of Ultrasound. Ultrasound Quotes. https://www.ultrasoundquotes.com/blog/doppler-vs-duplex/
- Ultrasound History. Radiology Today. https://www.radiologytoday.net/archive/rt_120108p28.shtml
