Historically, medical uses of ultrasound came about shortly after the close of World War II, where much of the research and knowledge of the underwater sonar, as well as non-destructive testing applications inspired researchers in Japan to develop a system to detect intracerebal hematoma and brain tumour.
Dr. Karl Dussik, a psychiatrist, at the hospital in Bad Ischl, Austria was the first person publishing a medical use of diagnostic ultrasound.
He was trying to locate brain tumours with a new method consisting of an ultrasound emitter at one end and an ultrasound receiver at the other. The patient stayed between the two devices. He measured the ultrasound beam transmission through the patient's head. The outbound ultrasound beam power was known and he calculated the receiving power, defining ultrasound attenuation and reinforcement. He also tried to visualize the cerebral ventricles by measuring the ultrasound beam modification through the head. Dr. Dussik published his technique in 1942 with the name of "Hyperphonography of the Brain."
