Question

There are many different diagnostic tools and methods available within todays medical community to identify the cause of discomfort and illness of a person. But what is really interesting is that many of these methods have evolved over time in how they are used, what they tell us, and their application in healthcare. Therefore, for this critical thinking activity you will develop a chronological tale that will outline the history or evolution of a diagnostic tool that is used for the diagnosis of the disorders of the systems we are covering: Blood, Circulatory, Cardiovascular, or Lymphatic disorders. Your tool could be used to only identify or diagnose a specific disorder, or a collection of them. The focus is on the history and evolution of the tool and how it is used today rather than the disorders it diagnoses.

create a timeline in a format of your choosing (i.e. PowerPoint slides, written, drawn or a visual representation with information filled in, etc.) and fill-in the details about the diagnostic tool based on research you find on its development and evolution.

Answer 1

I chose Cardiovascular disorder.

Cardiovascular disease remains the main cause of morbidity and mortality and early diagnosis of it is important. There are series if tests performed to diagnose or screen the cardiovascular disease.

ECHOCARDIOGRAM - A diagnostic tool used to check the problems with heart.

ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY - A non invasive diagnostic technique used to provide information on cardiac morphology, function and hemodynamics.

EVOLUTION OF ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY:

The evolution of Echocardiography has made it the basic part of cardiovascular medicine in less five decades.

The discovery of piezoelectricity in 1880 is considered as the date for the origin of Echocardiography.

Clinical Echocardiography date back to 1950's credited to Carl Helmuth Hertz and Inge Edler. Time motion or M-mode approach is used to identify moving signal with cardiac motion. Single ultrasonic beam was directed towards heart and reflected signals were displayed on a oscillograph. Specific role of this comes when precise measurements of cardiac time intervals are necessary. Also during the study of rapidly moving targets.

The origin of first Echocardiography textbook or even the term was developed 1960-1970's.

Contrast Echocardiography began by injecting indocyan8ne green dye with the creation of large clouds of echoes within the heart. It became an important tool in detecting left ventricular endocardial borders.

Two dimensional Echocardiography is the advancement in echocardiography which provides the real time images of heart. Many people reconstructed this echcardiography but Effort in and Indiana group introduces the first successful and standard commercial scanner, since then this has become the backbone of the current echocardiography.

Then comes Doppler Echocardiography. Though it was developed in early 1950s, its clincal uses were known in 1970s. Doppler effect in which its examined the effect of observers motion relative to the source of an ultrasound wave. This has been a main clinical modality for non invasive assessment of diastolic filling patterns.

Introduction of 2D echocardiography led to interest in Stress echocardiography in 1980s. Technical evolution and digital development allowed digital recording of rest and stress images and a comparison is made. Since then stress echocardiography became a routine clinical test.

In 1970s Transesophageal echocardiography was established. It was performed in 1980s using 2D tranducer on fiber optic endoscope. Its development continued. Its multiplane imaging capability and semi invasive ature allowed progressive uses in any setting.

Then evolved intraoperative echocardiography and Epicardial echocardiography.

Three dimensional Echocardiography began to develop in 1960s. This technique allows to obtain 3D echocardiogram using reconstruction technique. Improvement in visualization complex shapes, relations between cardiac structures, calculations of cardiac volumes, mass and function, assessment of vascular abnormalities and dysfunctions are some advantages of 3D echocardiography.

Later Tissue Doppler imaging, strain&strain rate imaging, Speckle tracking echocardiography, Intracardiac echocardiography were developed.

Today using the Echocardiography is essential part of cardiology. The advantage of Echocardiography is its outstanding versatile technology. However there are certain cons like advanced examination which requires physicians to work hard to provide definite information to eliminate harmful examinations. Also this technique is cost effective, a reason which does allow everyone to get access to it.