Donald Eugene Strandness (September 22, 1928 – January 7, 2002) was an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

university professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

, and

research scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophica ...

. Dr. Strandness, known as Gene, was influential in the development of

Doppler ultrasound Doppler ultrasonography is medical ultrasonography that employs the Doppler effect to perform imaging of the movement of tissues and body fluids (usually blood), and their relative velocity to the probe. By calculating the frequency shift of ...

as a diagnostic tool in vascular medicine, and did research that established much of the clinical grading criteria in the field of vascular ultrasound. Dr. Strandness was recognized as a pioneer in the field of vascular surgery, and as a "founding father" of the

University of Washington School of Medicine The University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) is a large public medical school in the northwest United States, located in Seattle and affiliated with the University of Washington. According to ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 Best Grad ...

and Medical Center.

Early life and education

Gene Strandness was born on September 22, 1928 in

Bowman, North Dakota Bowman is a city and county seat of Bowman County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 1,470 at the 2020 census. History Bowman was founded in 1907 at about the same time the railroad was extended to that point. The city took its na ...

. Facing economic hardship, his family left North Dakota and moved to

Olympia, WA Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. European ...

when he was 10 years old. He attended Olympia High School, graduating in 1946. He did his undergraduate studies at

Pacific Lutheran University Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congregations of Region I of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ame ...

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

. He went on to study medicine at the

, receiving his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

in 1954.

Pioneering role in vascular ultrasound

In the early 1960s, while a resident at the

University of Washington Medical Center The University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) is a hospital in the University District of Seattle, Washington. It is one of the teaching hospitals affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine.And is located in the War ...

, Strandness became interested in, and recognized the importance of, vascular physiology and

hemodynamics Hemodynamics or haemodynamics are the dynamics of blood flow. The circulatory system is controlled by homeostatic mechanisms of autoregulation, just as hydraulic circuits are controlled by control systems. The hemodynamic response continuously mo ...

(the flow of blood). He envisioned the potential uses of Doppler ultrasound as a tool in the diagnosis of

vascular disease Vascular disease is a class of diseases of the blood vessels – the arteries and veins of the circulatory system of the body. Vascular disease is a subgroup of cardiovascular disease. Disorders in this vast network of blood vessels can cause ...

, and upon completing his residency began his collaborations with bio-engineers Robert Rushmer, Dean Franklin and Donald Baker and their team at the University of Washington. Their research, and the equipment they developed were used in clinical trials that validated Strandness' thinking. In 1967, Strandness introduced the first Doppler ultrasound instrument for clinical use in an article he co-wrote, "Ultrasonic Flow Detection: A Useful Technic In The Evaluation of Peripheral Vascular Disease", published in the ''American Journal of Surgery''. The article, and Strandness' belief in using Doppler ultrasound to detect peripheral vascular disease, was met with skepticism. In the 1970s, Strandness and the bio-engineering group at the University of Washington, turned their attention to the use of real-time B-mode scanning. This type of ultrasound would enable physicians to see the vascular structures in

real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...

. Further research allowed B-mode imaging to be combined with Doppler ultrasound, providing real-time views of the vascular structures and simultaneous hemodynamic information. Today, this type of duplex scanning is used in a variety of ultrasound specialties. CarotidDoppler1

Late career

Throughout his career, Dr. Strandness taught and conducted vascular research at

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. He retired with Emeritus status in 1995, but continued to run the University's vascular research lab. He was actively engaged in research and continued writing, including an updated version of his work, "Duplex Scanning in Vascular Disorders". He saw patients until shortly before his death in 2002.

Legacy

Prior to Strandness' work, the only vascular imaging available to physicians would have been arteriograms, x-rays read from radiopaque dyes injected directly into the bloodstream. Initially, the idea of using ultrasound imaging was met with resistance. Eventually, however, younger physicians were more receptive and accepting of the technology Strandness and his team developed. Although arteriograms are sometimes still used, most physicians today rely upon the non-invasive procedures and real-time information provided by duplex ultrasound scans. Today, based on the technologies and practices Dr. Strandness developed, vascular ultrasound is a well established field. Technologists, known as vascular sonographers, specialize in this specific branch of ultrasound scanning.

References

External links