Diagnostic Ultrasonography

It was the development of radar and sonar during the last World War which made the ultrasonic techniques I am going to talk about possible. Following the War, Dr. K. T. Dussik had the idea that, if one directed ultrasonic waves into the body, one might obtain echoes reflected from tissue surfaces in the same way that the Navy received echo information reflected from the submarine\u27s hull. When he did this, he did get reflected echoes from within the body, and this opened the door for other investigators to demonstrate how this echo information could be made useful in diagnostic medicine. The next step was to display these echoes in a form which the physician could recognize and utilize diagnostically. The first part of this presentation will tell you about the various methods we can use to display this echo information, and the second part will give you examples of its diagnostic application in many different medical specialties. Ultrasound is applicable for visualization of soft tissue structures in all parts of the body