Electronic sector scanning in the diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease and space‐occupying processes

Real-time compound scanning for echoencephalography

“…Somer (1968) introduced a phase-array real-time sector scanner. Results are presented by Freund (1973 Comparing figs. 2, 4, 5, and 6 in this study it is evident that a multi-element real-time compound scanning technique with the possibility of dynamic focusing is a real step forward.…”

The history of real time ultrasound

“…Although the results were encouraging [5], with the invention of CT-scanning in 1973 the interest in ultrasound for brain diagnostics disappeared rapidly. …”

Transcranial Duplex Sonography of Hyperacute lntracerebral Hemorrhages

“…Intracranial hemorrhage is a common underlying cause of acute neurological deterioration, requiring emergency neuroimaging procedures such as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to establish the diagnosis. Transcranial color-coded duplex sonography (TCDS), a new, noninvasive diagnostic method that evolved from early experience with transcranial B-mode imaging in the 1970s, allows two-dimensional imaging of brain parenchyma and color-flow imaging of the circle of Willis [1][2][3][4].…”

“…I remember the first steps made in Freiburg (Germany) and Utrecht (The Netherlands) in the 1970s when the Dutch engineer Jan Somer provided an electronic sector scanning system with a stationary phasedarray transducer that allowed transtemporal insonation for a rather rough image of brain structures and arterial pulsations [1 ]. Clinical studies by Freund and coauthors [2], Kazner and Grumme [3], and Smith and colleagues [4] showed promising results as to the ability of the system to noninvasively detect space-occupying lesions, such as brain tumors, intracranial hemorrhages, and arterial venous malformation. However, without computerized data processing, the image quality was rather limited (Fig 1 ), as seems to be the case for today's transcranial color-coded duplex scanning, although in those days when A-mode ultrasound and angiography were the only methods to confirm a diagnosis like intracranial bleeding, they were of some value.…”