In 1958 Ian Donald published what is now the foundational paper on medical ultrasound for obstetrics. He was so widely ridiculed by his colleagues at the time that they nicknamed him Mad Donald [1], and one said ultrasound would be useful only to "a gynecologist who was blind and had lost the use of both hands" [2]. Another noted that he'd invented a £10,000 device to undertake a task that could be accomplished with a £0.02 rubber glove. [3]
Last week, my wife and I welcomed our first child into the world. She had a rare pregnancy complication that until recently would have meant only a 28% intact survival rate for our newborn. But in 2013 US guidance was updated to add regular preventative screening for her condition at the 20-week ultrasound, and with early detection the survival rate is ~99%. (In the UK, preventative screening is still not recommended, for reasons like "it is not known how accurate screening tests are" [4].)
The entire history of radiology is people expressing skepticism about the work done by innovators. I for one am grateful for folks like @DavidSHolz building new classes of devices that can help us see things in new ways, and I'll be rooting for their success. Hand in hand with my wife and our healthy baby boy.
