The
early applications of ultrasound in medicine and surgery had received worldwide
publicity. Some reported incidents in this regard include the following: A
severe backache of a lawyer in Paris was cured in just five minutes. The late
American president Mr. Kennedy had once suffered from backache and muscular
stiffness while he was participating in a free-plantation programme somewhere
in Canada. He was instantly treated by ultrasound therapy used by his personal
doctor, Dr. Trawell. The physical disabilities of over ninety children, who
were suffering from Polio or Arthritis, were cured in Paris by the same
therapy. The otherwise 'permanent' mole of a patient in Germany was completely
removed in a fortnight by a regular treatment by ultrasound for few seconds
every day.
The
first experiment on ultrasound treatment of wounds was conducted on twenty
seven patients, whose body parts were cut during accidents…., in the Sallpetrie
hospital in Paris. The wounds of about eighteen of these patients were cured
completely while about eight had recovered partially. Some German doctors also
succeed in applying ultrasound therapy to cure some diseases of ears that were
incurable by medicines or surgery. In their initial attempts on a sample of
sixteen patients, the doctors had achieved almost instantaneous success in the
case of six patients and an equal number of patients showed partial but
positive response.
Ultrasonics
has found significant place in advanced medical technology today. although the
existence of these waves was discovered within two year since that of the X-ray
(in 1985), their first successful application was registered by Dr. Karl T.
Datzic's work in 1942. Soon after this, Dr. H. Hubert of the Geology division
in a University of California had also demonstrated the use of ultrasonic
vibrations in cleaning delicate old bones that were lying (stored) in brittle
state. Similar contemporary works had triggered multifaceted research and
technological developments and the domain of ultrasonic applications had soon
expanded to the areas ranging from cleaning and washing, to the cutting of
heavy metal sheets….; from engineering tools to delicate surgery…… etc.
When
the subtle and high speed vibrations of ultrasound are electrified, their
penetrating power is intensified tremendously so that they could pass through
the atoms of any kind of ultra dense material. This rare property has given
rise to a unique application of ultrasound, viz, - sonography. It has been
found to be more useful than the X-ray radiation both in terms of the
noninvasiveness and the accuracy and fineness of scanning. Even in the earlier
days of its development in the high tech countries, the medical applications of
sonography had helped successful diagnosis of several intra body ailments/
abnormalities where X-rays had failed.
Apart
from the applications in surgery and sonographic recordings, the sophisticated
uses of these super fast ultrasonic waves in medical biotechnology include cell
membrane treatments and RBC up-gradation. Some researchers at Los Angeles (USA)
and in Germany have also successfully experimented for using these waves along
with intravenous drug injecting and infrared radiation therapies.
Development
of ultrasound transducers has further advanced the ultrasonic applications at
the cellular and molecular levels. The ultrasound transducers convert
electrical energy into sonic energy and generate sound waves at a speed higher
than 20,000 per sec. These waves, when collide with an object, produce a
'reflected' image of the same. This image can then be recoderded and processed
by other energy medium(s) as well. Techniques based on ultrasound transducers
have been very useful in tissue culture processing and analysis.
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