The co-inventor of Scotland's pioneering ultrasound scanner expressed deep concern that half of the country's expectant mothers are not routinely offered second scans during pregnancy.

The co-inventor of Scotland's pioneering ultrasound scanner expressed deep concern that half of the country's expectant mothers are not routinely offered second scans during pregnancy.

Tom Brown, who unveiled the groundbreaking technology along with Professor Ian Donald and Dr John MacVicar 50 years ago today, said his own grandson was saved because of the technology.

But yesterday he voiced disappointment that four of Scotland's biggest health boards do not currently provide potentially life-saving second scans as a matter of course, even though that was recommended by officials more than four years ago.

Health authorities in England and Wales and some Scottish regions offer scans at 12 weeks' and 20 weeks' gestation. However, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lothian, NHS Lanarkshire, and NHS Highland are still not routinely giving mothers-to-be a 20-week check. Between them, these boards cover more than half the Scottish population.

Mr Brown said: "It is gratifying that nearly all maternity units in England and also in the more outlying centres of population in Scotland offer mothers-to-be a minimum of two ultrasound scans.

"It is disappointing that in some large parts of Scotland, including the central belt where most Scottish mothers live, this second scan is not routinely available. It is especially disappointing that it is not yet available in Glasgow, the very city where medical ultrasound was first developed."

Mr Brown, who lives in Fife, helped invent the machine when he was a junior research and development engineer for Kelvin and Hughes, and the defining paper which described its uses was published on June 7, 1958, in The Lancet. Its potential for observing a foetus in the womb became clear a little later.

Now, the 20-week scan is considered helpful for picking up problems that could not be detected earlier in the pregnancy, such as brain abnormalities and problems with the heart, bowel, kidneys, limbs and lips. It is sometimes known as the anomaly scan, although Mr Brown said he prefers to call it "the baby MoT".

He said: "While the vast majority of scans will confirm and reassure parents that all is well, they do provide early warning of situations where further tests or actions are needed. Some of these situations will be quite compatible with a continuing and successful pregnancy, provided the doctors are able to start whatever treatment is needed. This happened in my own family where we have a new fighting-fit grandson who would not be with us today but for an ultrasound test."

Shona Robison, Public Health Minister, promised an SNP government would make all health boards offer two scans when she was in opposition and Mr Brown has personally questioned her about meeting the standard.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde provide the 20-week scan routinely in Clyde hospitals but say they will not extend this to Glasgow until they have cut the number of maternity units in the city from three to two, scheduled for late next year.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We support the provision of a second scan in the 20th week of pregnancy and we are working closely with the NHS to ensure that this is delivered in those boards where it is not currently routine."

Background: Pioneers who helped save thousands of babies' lives

DAMIEN HENDERSON and HELEN PUTTICK

It was a ramshackle invention born out of the ingenuity and happenstance that changed the face of foetal medicine.

The prototype ultrasound scanner developed by Dr Ian Donald in Glasgow's Royal Maternity Hospital adopted industrial flaw detectors derived from the Admiralty's wartime sonar technology for medical use.

The results were initially modest, but ultimately revolutionary.

Tom Brown, the young engineer who, with Dr Donald and Dr John MacVicar, went on to develop the world's first compound compact scanner, recalled the "comical" arrangement of the open-ended glass cylinder, large carafe of water and jar of Vaseline that had been used to overcome problems in using the sonar scan on people.

In a paper on the development of the ultrasound, he wrote: "Ever the practical improviser... Donald greased one end of the glass cylinder with Vaseline, stuck it on the patient's abdomen, filled it up to the brim with water, and placed the ultrasound probe in the end, directed through the water into the patient."

The scanner was the template for devices used to save the lives of thousands of babies around the world. Following improvements by the trio, it was presented to the world in a paper in The Lancet in 1958, which detailed the diagnostic uses it could be applied to.

Speaking on the 50th anniversary of the paper's publication, Mr Brown recalls: "A little later, and for the first time in medical history, it became clear that ultrasound enabled those caring for expectant mothers to observe directly what is happening inside the pregnant womb."

Dr Alan Cameron, foetal medicine specialist and consultant obstetrician at the Queen Mother's, said of the early scanners: "The impact was enormous. It is the cornerstone of everything we do clinically in obstetrics and gynaecology."