Lund University Breakthrough
Inge Edler and Carl Hellmuth Hertz at Lund University in Sweden recorded the first diagnostic ultrasound echoes from the heart in October 1953 and by adapting industrial ultrasonic reflectoscopes and by photographing oscilloscope traces they produced the first moving recordings of cardiac structures which launched the field of clinical echocardiography
Clinical Need and Innovation
Edler sought a non invasive method to evaluate mitral valve disease and collaborated with Hertz to modify available technology for medical use and their pragmatic approach demonstrated that ultrasound could provide real time functional information about cardiac motion and valve function
Impact on Cardiology and Imaging
The Lund experiments rapidly inspired further engineering and clinical work that produced M mode and later two dimensional echocardiography and Doppler flow assessment and echocardiography became an essential tool for cardiology offering bedside assessment without ionizing radiation