Ultrasound Technology: How It Works & Its Medical Applications

Ultrasound technology borrows from animals like bats and dolphins who use echo-location, an advanced form of sonar to help them navigate. Scientists have adapted this technology to provide detailed images of the human body that can detect internal problems and save lives.

Identification

• Ultrasound technology utilizes reflected sound waves to bounce images back to the viewer. In medicine, ultrasound is used as a diagnostic tool to make non-invasive observations of internal organs and tissues.

History

• Two German medical scientists, H Gohr and Th. Wedekind, released a paper in 1940 suggesting ultrasound technology could function as a diagnostic tool. However, the first physician to actually use medical ultrasound was Karl Theo Dussik who began experiments in the 1930s, according to an article by Dr. Joseph Woo on Ob-ultrasound.net.

Portable Units

• The rising demands of the medical industry mandate that ultrasound innovations be both powerful and portable, according to a Medical Electronics Design report. The latest ultrasound designs feature improvements in semi-conductor technology that allow for smaller, more portable units.

Cardiology

• Scientists at the Cleveland Clinic are developing an ultrasound innovation called auto-regressive classification. This technique provides cardiologists with a three dimensional analysis of a patient's coronary artery and the blockages that later lead to coronary failures.

Workflow Improvements

• A recent article posted in the Innovations Report, a website forum for science, industry and business, announced a new ultrasound technology called Contrast Pulse Sequencing, or CPS for short. This innovation is aimed at enhancing the range of scanners by providing a sophisticated, high-resolution color radar, according to the Innovations Report.