Arriving on the scene in the mid-1950s, emerging ultrasound scanning technology spurred fierce competition among companies vying for top positions in the burgeoning industry.
Initial ‘bistable’ imaging technology of pure black or white images on a cathode tube provided early progress in developing fetal growth charts through the 1970s. However, it was not until the mid-1980s that television screens displaying grayscale images became generally commercially available and replaced oscilloscopes. This and other factors, such as digital components replacing analog, reduced blurring, improved visualization of fetal anatomy, and quickly led to more detailed fetal biometry and the ability to detect structural abnormalities.
The development of high-resolution real-time imaging by Acuson and others has enabled even more acute analysis of fetal structure, physiology, environment, Doppler blood flow, etc., and maternal anatomy.
Taken together, the Harvard Business School Case History and Campbell’s clinical history demonstrate that the evolution of current sophisticated clinical diagnostic capabilities was enabled by the technical innovation of ultrasound equipment vendors at each step of the way.
Ultrasound’s superior clinical diagnostic capabilities and its evolution through the decades were described by Stuart Campbell in his 2013 paper, “A Short History of Sonography in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.”
In this 2019 Harvard Business School Case History, “Development of Ultrasound Scanning,” authors Amar Bhide, Srikant Datar, and Katherine Stebbins describe how multiple factors, including innovation, advocacy, training, and technological development, launched ultrasound to its current status as the second-most-frequently used imaging technology after plain radiography.
