The same setup had been covered in a 2 pages report in the "Medicine" section of the January 15 issue of the LIFE® Magazine in the same year (1965), and this September cover together with the writeup inside was the second time that the Hahnemann setup was reported. It was also not the first time that medical ultrasonics have been reported enthusiastically in the LIFE® Magazine. The first instance was in 1954 when Dr. Douglass Howry's Somascope at the University of Colorado, Denver, was reported in the "Medicine" section of the September 20 issue of the Magazine.
Ultrasound setup at the Hahnemann Medical college as shown on the cover of LIFE® Magazine, September, 1965
The Smith Kline Instruments Company (SKI®), in the early 1960s was producing the Ekoline series of A-mode equipment for echoencephalography and echocardiography use. They were starting to introduce B-mode equipment to their line and had tried to persuade the Hahnemann Medical College to perform the clinical testing. J Stauffer Lehman's laboratory and his staff were responsible for all the trying-outs and improvements. The compound scanner with the water-bath was sensationally reported in the LIFE® Magazine in 1965. The equipment was nevertheless cumbersome and expensive to fabricate and later on a smaller company, Hoffrel took up the production of Lehman's machines. After the expiration of SKI's contract, Lehmann turned to use the articulated arm (the porta-arm) scanner originally invented and produced by the Physionics Inc in Longmont, Colorado (later on acquired by the Picker Corporation and further expanding its development).
George Evans, then a young Radiologist, was responsible for organizing the services and several important research projects. With his team was Marvin Ziskin. Together they have introduced ultrasound to the Radiological community in the United States and convincing them of the technique's clinical value.
Image copyrighted LIFE® Magazine.Back to History of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.