Cardiology Display Closeup 1

Creator

• Museum of Medical History

Preview

Description

The left upper corner of the Cardiology Display provides a tribute to French physician Dr. Rene Lannec. A print of Robert Thom’s painting depicting Dr. Lannec using his invention, the first monaural stethoscope, to listen to a young patient’s chest sounds is pictured. Prior to 1816, physicians pressed their ear directly to the chest to hear lung and heart sounds. Lannec had the brilliant idea to use first a rolled-up piece of paper, and later a wooden tube, that he crafted to amplify and focus on the unique sounds of blood flow within the heart and airflow within the lungs. This acoustic analysis is a practice now known as Auscultation. A replica of Lannec’s early wooden stethoscope is positioned immediately below the portrait.  Dr. Bigelow’s version of the monoaural stethoscope (circa 1835) is positioned to the right of the portrait while an array of the many early monaural stethoscopes is pictured, with a yellow background, just behind Dr. Bigelow’s invention. This simple invention revolutionized the diagnostic process for the assessment of cardiopulmonary physiology and pathology.

The artifacts displayed to the right of the top shelf are further examples of the classical instruments most recognized as the more familiar “stereo” versions of the stethoscope. The development of these, the most familiar tool of the physician, span the period from 1885 to contemporary Cardiology practice.  They include Ford’s classic stethoscope with a Bell patient interface, from 1885, the Bowles stethoscope with a diaphragm chest piece, the Dr. Sprague modification with a unique lever allowing a dual-purpose chest piece from the 1950’s as well as the contemporary 3M Littman acoustical stethoscope designed for Cardiology practice, and finally, the Medsonics electronic (Doppler) stethoscope for studying vascular flow. To the extreme right of this shelf, there is a large storyboard devoted to pioneering Cardiologist Dr. Helen B. Taussig. While practicing at John Hopkins Hospital and University during the early to mid- 20^th Century, Dr. Taussig focused, with primarily only her stethoscope, on the early acoustical diagnosis for children with congenital heart defects. Her early practice and research, inspired the development of the first pediatric heart surgery procedures to remedy and later repair of many of the heart defects she diagnosed and described.

Media Type

JPEG