Second trans-rectal lower bowel endoscope and introducer
date: label: date made
content: 1955
name: label: Associated Name
content: University of Minnesota
label: Associated Name
content: National Cancer Institute
label: Associated Name
content: National Institutes of Health
label: maker
content: Wild, John J.
label: maker
content: Reid, John M.
notes: label: Description
content: This is a second prototype model for ultrasound imaging of the prostate and colon. It was created in response to an earlier prototype model which failed to produce clear images due to a faulty sound head and drive shaft. One change from the earlier model was a method for automatic extraction with real time scan-images. The automatic extraction was a method in which the transducer would be slowly screwed back into the instrument base instead of pulled out by the operator. The ultrasound images were radial, or 360-degrees, unlike the first model, and were taken as the instrument was withdrawn from the patient’s rectum. This present instrument was rigid and the echoscope would be inserted into the patient’s rectum with the narrow metal instrument, or “introducer,” collected here. To insert the sound head, the bowel was first inflated with air and the doctor would insert the introducer. He would take out the inner, domed introducer tube by the handle and look down the outer tube in place to ensure vital organs were out of the way. The soundhead would be inserted through the introducer. Once the soundhead was inserted into the patient's rectum, the hollow instrument would be withdrawn and slid down the shaft of the larger echoscope and locked near the handle, out of the way. This introducer could be (and is presently) removed from the larger machine but was attached while in use. The entire soundhead would rotate and take internal images. The need for a flexible sound head for trans-rectal examination, as opposed to this rigid model, became apparent after clinical use.
label: Description
content: This object was used clinically and produced 360-degree radial ultrasound images in which cancerous tissue, already known to be present in the subject, could be identified. The image was taken 3.2cm from the anus and known site of cancer, achieving Wild's goal to get as close to the tissue as possible. One of the first "pulse-echo" or ultrasound images of the bowel was published in June, 1955.
label: Description
content: John Wild and John Reid believed ultrasound could be used to image living human tissue and distinguish between different types of tissue, including cancer. Many contemporaries working on ultrasound were focused on mapping the body or imaging the brain. Some doubted the usefulness of blurry ultrasound images in specific and early diagnostics. Wild and Reid were interested in using ultrasound in diagnostics, particularly cancer diagnostics. Wild and Reid knew the lower intestinal tract, prostate, ovaries, and cervix uteri were able to be imaged with a trans-rectal or trans-vaginal endoscope. Their earlier work with breast, brain, and surface imaging aided their work to create a smaller transducer that could be used internally. The closer the transducer to the tissue, the finer the detail on the ultrasonic image. The first theoretical schematic drawing of an endo-echoscope, or ultrasonic endoscope, was drawn by Wild and Reid in 1953. In 1954 Reid and Wild claimed they had successfully created technology to detect minor irregularities in tissue, which would hold value in detecting cancer.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Minnesota, Minneapolis
label: Associated Place
content: United States: Minnesota, Minneapolis, St. Barnabas Hospital
label: Associated Place
content: United States: Minnesota, Minneapolis
topic: label: Subject
content: Ultrasound
label: Subject
content: Radar
label: Subject
content: Imaging
label: Subject
content: Diagnostic Equipment
label: Subject
content: Cancer
label: Subject
content: Medicine
label: associated subject
content: Endoscopy
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Ellen L. C. Wild and Valerie C. Wild
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.0300.07
label: accession number
content: 2015.0300
label: catalog number
content: 2015.0300.07
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Lower bowel endoscope for ultrasound
label: Object Name
content: lower bowel ultrasound endoscope and introducer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (corede material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (sound head material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (introducer material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (introducer handle material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16.5 cm x 83 cm x 12 cm x 5 cm; 6 1/2 in x 32 11/16 in x 4 23/32 in x 1 31/32 in
label: Measurements
content: introducer: 35 cm x 2 cm; 13 25/32 in x 25/32 in
label: Measurements
content: sound head: 1.2 cm; 15/32 in