How did Australia contribute to ultrasound imaging?
Australian researchers at the Ultrasonics Institute in Sydney, led by George Kossoff and David Robinson, made major advances in medical ultrasound in the 1960s and 1970s, including grey-scale imaging.
The Ultrasonics Institute was part of the Commonwealth Acoustic Laboratories. From the early 1960s, its team developed ultrasound scanners for examining pregnant women, aiming to see the developing baby safely without X-rays.
In the early 1970s, the team introduced grey-scale imaging, which showed different tissues in shades of grey rather than simple black and white. This made images much clearer and transformed ultrasound into a practical diagnostic tool.
The Octoson
The Institute later developed the Octoson, an advanced scanner using a water bath and multiple transducers, which was manufactured and sold to hospitals in the 1970s and 1980s.
Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves, beyond human hearing, that bounce off tissues to create images. It is now used to check pregnancies, hearts, blood vessels and many organs.
Kossoff and his colleagues received international recognition, and Australian work is widely acknowledged as a key part of ultrasound history alongside research in Scotland and the United States.
Did You Know?
Ultrasound is considered safe in pregnancy because it does not use ionising radiation.