 Doppler
Ultrasound History
Ultrasound-History@OBGYN.net is very fortunate to have papers and communications of Donald W.
Baker donated to this polybiography site. Don Baker was a central figure in the invention and production of the
first commercial medical Doppler instruments for the noninvasive study of
blood flow and motion in the living body. This work constitutes a distinguished career of over 50 years.
In
addition we have received a rare video of the first demonstration of color
Doppler. This rare video was
provided to us by Geoff Stevenson, MD, who was also involved in the early
developments and medical use of Doppler shifted ultrasonic energy.1 Geoff was the first author and presenter of this video in
1979 at the American Heart Association’s meeting. This video
was in the archives at the University of Washington  on
16 mm film. Geoff and I met at a meeting of the American Registry of Diagnostic
Medical Sonographers and he told me about the existence of this rare film. It was subsequently transferred to video tape, which was provided to
OBGYN.net and digitized by me for use on the WWWeb.
Doppler
has come to be used in almost every medical discipline for the study of blood
flow, tissue motion, and disease processes involved in these dynamic processes. Until this invention the only way to study circulation was the invasive
process of angiography. Now we can
non-invasively and safely study the circulation of human body, including the
reproductive perfusion as well as the perfusion in the fetus. We are honored to have this valuable historical material placed with us.
Thank you Geoff and Don for this addition to the polybiography of medical
ultrasound.
The
following are links to the various documents and the video of the very first
public demonstration of this remarkable technology. These documents are essentially as the author submitted them,
with only formatting to HTML.
New! Making
Waves Silently - Compliments of the University of Washington
Trend Magazine (3,527kb .pdf)
Geoffrey
Stevenson’s Email describing the history of the video
Video
of the first presentation of color Doppler (requires video player software)
D.
W. Baker’s “Brief Description of the Ultrasound Program” Univ. of Washington,
Seattle, 1976
D.
W. Baker’s Chronological Narrative
D.
W. Baker’s CV
D.
W. Baker’s Bibliography
Peace, Terry
J. DuBose, MS, RDMS, EAB, FSDMS, FAIUM, Chair of OBGYN.net
Ultrasound
1. Stevenson JG, Brandestini MA, Weiler T, Howard EA, Eyer M: "Digital multigate
Doppler with color echo and Doppler display - Diagnosis of atrial and
ventricular septal defects. Circulation 1979; 60-2:205.
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