Hospital Medical Equipment Inventions of the 1960's

There have been many great advances in hospitalnow about as common as first aid kits.  Ultrasound
medical equipment over the last century, but most ofmachines were developed around the same time, in
us take them for granted.  The scientific community1962 to be exact, although they are not quite as easily
has graced us with some revolutionary pieces ofportable.
hospital medical equipment that have saved many livesThe early 1960s were really quite a time for hospital
and generally helped people live longer and better. medical equipment inventions.  Balloon catheters were
And many of the new pieces of hospital medicalinvented by Thomas Fogarty in 1963. Fogarty patented
equipment that have been introduced have opened thethe first balloon catheter that became the industry
door for even more equipment inventions.  Considerstandard for continuous draining of the bladder, which
the following simple pieces of equipment that are nowis crucial during surgery.  And the first portable EKG,
taken for granted, which did not even exist before theor electrocardiogram, was built in 1961 by Frank
1960s.Sanborn’s company.  Although EKGs were
The laser scalpel is still a pretty impressive piece ofalready an accepted piece of hospital medical
hospital medical equipment, but it is used in so manyequipment, they had never been portable prior to that.
different procedures that it is no longer appreciated asThese equipments are now taken for granted in
the delicate and precise technological wonder it is. hospitals and other medical care settings, but life
Laser scalpels were not invented until 1964, thanks towouldn’t be the same without them.  It’s a
testing beginning in 1960 that eventually led to thegood thing about living today.
carbon dioxide laser.  Portable defibrillators were alsoFor more information please contact Medical Device
introduced in 1960 in Belfast, Germany.  They areDepot.