How medical technology has changed over the years

28 February 2014 / /

L: Woman with an artificial leg, too embarrassed to show her face c. 1890 - 1900

R: Sarah Reinertsen (born 22 May 1975) is an American triathlete and former Paralympic track athlete. She was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, a bone-growth disorder; her affected leg was amputated above the knee at age seven.

L: Wooden prosthetic hand, c. 1800

R: The bebionic B3 prosthetic hand receives signals from muscle twitches in your upper arm. These inputs can perform a range of motions that let you do things like hold a mouse, shake hands and write your name.

L: Selection of some items used to disguise facial injuries. Early plastic surgery.

R: Ultra-realistic prosthetics. Doctors sculpt each feature in wax and mould into latex noses, teeth or ears.

L: Blood transfusion bottle, England 1978

R: Disposable blood bag made of PVC

L: Antique prosthetic leg

R: C-Leg, Leg Prosthesis from Otto Bock. A completely microprocessor-controlled leg prosthesis system that helps people who have undergone transfemoral amputation to achieve a new degree of safety and dynamics.

L: US Civil War surgeon's kit

R: U.S. Navy Surgeons and Hospital Corpsman, assigned to the Surgical-Shock Trauma Platoon (SSTP) at Camp Taqaddum, Iraq, operate on a Marine.

L: "Walter Reed physiotherapy story." Burdick Cabinet "Radio-Vitant ray" therapy for mentally ill. 1920's

R: A common form of treatment for many mental disorders is psychotherapy. And today there many different medications to treat a range of mental disorders.

L: Obstetric phantom, Italy 1700-1800. Tool to teach medical students and midwives about childbirth.

R: Obstetric phantom, USA 2010-2014. Tool to teach medical students and midwives about childbirth.

L: Dentistry in Ancient Egypt

R: Modern dentures

L: Early anesthetics were soporifics (which dull the senses and induce sleep) or narcotics. These included opium, mandrake, jimsonweed, marijuana, alcohol and belladonna. Native American societies such as the Incas chewed coca leaves (from which cocaine is derived).

R: Drugs given to induce or maintain general anaesthesia can be either as gases or vapours, or as injections. It is possible to deliver anaesthesia solely by inhalation or injection, but most commonly the two forms are combined, with an injection given to induce anaesthesia and a gas used to maintain it.

L: Lewis Sayre's scoliosis treatment

R: Scoliosis Surgery in 2010. The surgeon attaches metal rods to the spine.

L: Claude Beck's early defibrillator

R: An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is a small battery-powered electrical impulse generator that is implanted in patients who are at risk of sudden cardiac death due to ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. The device is programmed to detect cardiac arrhythmia and correct it by delivering a brief electrical impulse to the heart.


R:Nowadays if you want to reduce the size of your body liposuction is the way to go

L: A nurse back in the day

R: A modern nurse