Trusty stethoscope faces threat from portable hi-tech

[maureenho]

24 January 2014 Last updated at 12:29

Trusty stethoscope faces threat from portable hi-tech

Stethoscope round a doctor's neck The stethoscope is among the most enduring symbols of the medical profession

In TV medical dramas, doctors and nurses are never without one. At the surgery, it is the GP's best friend.

Along with the white coat, the stethoscope is among the most recognisable symbols of the medical profession.

But according to an editorial in the journal Global Heart this week, the stethoscope is in its death throes, in danger of being consigned to medical history, having been overtaken by technology.

So are the stethoscope's days numbered?

Used to listen to the internal sounds of the human body, particularly the heart, lungs and abdomen, the stethoscope has been around for nearly 200 years.

The stethoscope was invented in 1816 by a French doctor, Rene Laennec.

Before, doctors had placed their ear to the patient's chest to hear the sounds of the lungs and heart.

But to spare the blushes of a female patient, he rolled up sheets of paper and placed one end to his ear and the other to her chest.

Laennec discovered he could hear the sounds loudly and clearly.

He subsequently made models out of wood, known as monaural stethoscopes because they had only one earpiece.

Binaural stethoscopes with two earpieces, the version still used today, came into use in the 1860s.

"Stethoscope" derives from the Greek words for "breast" and "look at".

Over that time, it has changed little, apart from a change from one earpiece to two earpieces in the 1860s.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25861086

[wendy]

Well I never.
the way things are changing