Cardiology Display Closeup 3

Creator

• Museum of Medical History

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Description

The development of understanding for the role of blood pressure and blood flow through the human circulatory system was the object of almost continual investigations from the 15^th to the 20^th century.  Experimentation lead to discoveries and better understanding of the role and measurement of blood pressure.  Pioneers like English physiologist, Reverend Stephen Hales, first described a columnar reference device for blood pressure in a horse as depicted in the first story board of the third shelf. The development of the Sphygmomanometer followed and in 1896, this device was further improved by Scipione Riva-Rocci. Improvements included a cuff that could be affixed around the arm to apply even pressure to the limb that would become the standard design for such blood pressure measuring devices going forward. Examples of a mercury column (in yellow) and later aneroid pressure measuring Sphygmomanometers are shown to the right, along with a storyboard depicting the earliest blood pressure cuff.

The next landmark developments for arterial catheterization occurred in the 20^th century. Dr. Werner Forssmann defied the contemporary constraints of medical human experimentation by performing the first introduction of a catheter into the right heart on himself, as depicted in the next storyboard. Thus, began the era of Cardiac Catheterization with Dr. Melvin Judkins’ innovative development of the essential 3 basic catheter types (central display) that are still used today.

Dr. F. Mason Sones, a radiologist, pioneered the use of radiopaque dyes for coronary artery imaging. A QR scan code to the right, enables access to a historical video of Dr. Sones’ accidental discoveries that led to a safe procedure. It appears in front of Dr. Judkins’ blue catheter examples, in the center.

Finally, a landmark development for safe bedside (in the ICU) catheterization of the right heart is summarized by the story board devoted to Drs. Swan and Ganz in the 1970s. A modern version of the multi-functional right heart catheter and a cartoon of its anatomical placement are featured on the far right of the blood pressure innovations shelf.

Media Type

JPEG