Encyclopedia of Health and Medicine

APPENDIX XI
MODERN MEDICINE TIMELINE
TIMELINE OF MODERN MEDICINE
Date Discovery Date Discovery
1950 penicillin, the first broad-spectrum antibiotic, 1976 single photon emission computed tomography
became available
(SPECT) scan; coronary artery bypass graft
1952 polio vaccine; isoniazid developed to treat (CABG)
tuberculosis; first published link between cigarette 1978 first in vitro fertilization infant born; radionuclides
smoking and lung cancer
for diagnostic imaging
1953 first open heart surgery using a heart–lung bypass 1980 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); smallpox
machine; DNA decoded; medical ultrasound
declared eradicated worldwide; first laparoscopic
1954 first living donor kidney transplantation appendectomy
1959 first drug to treat leukemia 1981 first heart–lung combined transplantation;
1960 first oral contraceptive (birth control pill) hepatitis B vaccine
becomes available in the United States 1982 acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
1962 oral polio vaccine identified; first permanent artificial heart
1963 first cadaveric donor kidney transplantation implanted; first use of monoclonal antibodies
1964 measles vaccine; first US Surgeon General’s report (MAbs) to treat cancer
on smoking and health 1983 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) identified as
1965 US Congress passes laws to establish Medicare and cause of AIDS
Medicaid programs, require warning labels on 1984 first cochlear implant
cigarette packages 1985 positron emission tomography (PET) scan
1966 first pancreas–kidney combined transplantation; 1986 first double-lung transplantation
first mammography machine 1987 first small bowel transplantation
1967 first human heart transplantation; first liver 1988 first split-liver transplantation
transplantation; mumps vaccine; kidney dialysis 1989 first living donor liver transplantation
machine 1990 first living donor lung transplantation
1970 rubella vaccine 1994 robotic laparoscopy
1973 DNA cloning 1995 blood substitute
1974 first disposable syringe 1999 first human chromosome sequenced
1975 chorionic villi sampling (CVS) 2003 human genome mapping completed
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