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Milestones in Medical Diagnosis and Diagnostic Imaging


Date Development or Discovery
c. 400 BC Disease concept introduced by Greek physician Hippocrates.
1612 Medical Thermometer devised by Italian physician Sanctorius
c. 1660 Light microscope developed by Dutch naturalist Antohj van Leeuwenhoek
1810 Stethoscope invented by French physician Rene' Laennec.
1850 - 1900 Germ theory of disease proposed by French scientist Louis Pasteur and developed by German bacteriologist Robert Koch.
1895 X-rays discovered by German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen. He also produced the first x-ray picture of the body (his wife's hand) in 1895.
1900 Chest x-ray, widespread use of the chest x-ray made early detection of tuberculosis (which was the most common cause of death) a reality.
1906 X-ray contrast medium. First contrast filled image of the renal system (kidneys).
1910 Barium sulfate introduction of as contrast agent for gastro-intestinal diagnosis.
1910-1912 Theory of Radioactivity published by Marie Curie and investigation of x-ray radiation for patient therapy (e.g. treatment of cancer).
1906 Electrocardiograph (ECG) invented by Dutch physiologist Willem Einthoven to monitor and record the electric signature of the heart.
1924 Radiographic imaging of the gallbladder, bile duct and blood vessels for the first time.
1929 Cardiac catheterization first performed by Forssmann on himself.
c. 1932 Transmission electron microscope (TEM) constructed by German scientists Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska.
1945 Coronary artery imaging. Visualization of (blood vessels that feed the heart).
1950 Nuclear Medicine applied imaging the kidneys, heart, and skeletal system.
1955 X-ray Image Intensifier-Television units to allow dynamic x-ray imaging of moving scenes. These fluoroscopic movies provided new information of the beating heart and its blood vessels.
c. 1955 Panoramic x-ray images of the entire jaw and teeth.
1957 Fiber endoscopy pioneered by South African-born physician Basil Hirschowitz at the University of Michigan.
1960 Ultrasound imaging is developed to look at the abdomen and kidneys, fetal baby, carotid blood vessels and heart.
1970 X-ray mammography finds widespread application in imaging the breasts.
1972 Computed Tomography (CT) scanning invented by British engineer Godfrey Hounsfield of EMI Laboratories, England, and South African born physicist Allan Cormack of Tufts University, Massachusetts.
1975 Chronic villus sampling developed by Chinese gynecologists as an aid to the early diagnosis of genetic disorders.
1976 Coronary Angioplasty was introduced by surgeon Andreas Gruentzig at the University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland. This technique uses x-ray fluoroscopy to guide the compression of plaques and minimize the dangerous constriction of the heart vessels.
1978 Digital radiography: the TV signal from the x-ray system is converted to a digital picture which can then be enhanced for clearer diagnosis and stored digitally for future review.
1980 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the brain was first done on a clinical patient. MRI was developed by Paul Lauterbur and scientists at Thorn-EMI Laboratories, England, and Nottingham University, England.
1984 3-Dimensional image processing using digital computers and CT or MR data, three dimensional images of bones and organs were first made.
1985 ClinicalPositron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning developed by scientists at the University of California.
c. 1985 Clinical Networks were first implemented to allow digital diagnostic images to be shared between physicians via computer network, allowing a doctor in Boston to review a CT examination from a patient in Beijing, China.
1989 Spiral CT allows fast volume scanning of an entire organ during a single, short patient breath hold of 20 to 30 seconds. Spiral CT had caused a renaissance in CT and lead the way tosignificant developments like CT Angiography.
1989 MR Angiography developed and clinically available to allow non-invasive imaging of the blood vessels without radiation or contrast injection.
1993 Echo Planar MR Imaging (EPI) developed and clinically available to allow MR systems to provide early detection of acute stroke. EPI also makes possible functional imaging, for instance of brain activity allowing doctors to investigate the function of different centers of the mind.
1993 Open MRI Systems developed to allow MR scanning of severely claustrophobic or obese patients who could not tolerate convention MR imaging in a close bore system.