Ultrasound

Patients often ask sonographer Cynthia Rapp just what it takes to perform ultrasound. Her frank response about the necessary qualifications sometimes comes as a surprise.

Data from around the world released at the 2005 RSNA meeting suggest that contrast-enhanced ultrasound use in molecular imaging will expand. Applications include the evaluation of tumor angiogenesis and lymph node metastases at nearly cellular levels as well as guidance, delivery, and assessment of gene therapy.

A radiologist was given a two-year prison term for using ultrasound to determine the sex of a fetus, according to a March 29 Associated Press report.

Findings of a Stanford University survey suggest teaching hospitals should reinforce training for radiology residents if they are to perform after-hours ultrasound scanning. Using residents to make up for the shortage of qualified sonographers could undermine medical education and compromise patient care. Data were published in the February issue of Academic Radiology.

Toshiba launches dual-panel system at ACC showAn angiography system that supports both cardiac and peripheral applications debuted March 11 in the Toshiba America Medical Systems booth during the American College of Cardiology meeting. Infinix DP-i/FD2, which incorporates two flat-panel detectors, meets ACC guidelines for both types of applications, according to the company. The system features an 8 x 8-inch floor-mounted cardiac C-arm and a 12 x 16-inch ceiling-mounted C-arm. The design allows coronary and vascular studies on the same table, increasing overall patient comfort and saving time that would otherwise be lost moving the patient to a second system.

A decade has passed since luminaries began generating promising clinical results using ultrasound elastography, which measures the elastic properties of tissue. Two years ago, Hitachi Medical began commercializing this technology. Now that company’s experience with its EUB Logos 8500 and pioneering work with a modified Siemens Allegra suggest that efforts to push elastography forward could soon begin paying dividends for vendors, customers, and patients.

The FDA was good to the radiology industry in 2005. For the third time in as many years -- and the fourth in the last five -- the regulatory agency cleared more than 300 radiological products. The last quarter could have been better, however.

Using intravascular ultrasound, researchers have found that intensive cholesterol lowering with a statin drug can regress the buildup of plaque in the coronary arteries, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta.

An unusual eulogy by a urologist sparked peals of laughter from radiologists during a prostate cancer imaging session at the European Congress of Radiology. The topic focused on a physical test that men have come to know, if not exactly love.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is far superior to conventional B-mode ultrasound studies and roughly as good as 64-slice CT for detection of liver metastases, according to a study from Italy presented at the European Congress of Radiology on Saturday.

An unusual eulogy by a urologist sparked peals of laughter from radiologists during a prostate cancer imaging session at the European Congress of Radiology. The topic focused on a physical test that men have come to know, if not exactly love.

Modern imaging has a ways to go before it can replace breast biopsy. A study conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality indicates that currently available noninvasive imaging methods fall short of the accuracy needed to determine conclusively whether a lesion is cancerous.

Use of ultrasound elastography, which measures the elastic properties of tissues, may help reduce the rate of biopsies in benign lesions by half, according to new results from a British breast cancer screening program.

Optical coherence tomography, a light-based imaging strategy, was found to compare favorably with intravascular ultrasound and to nearly match histopathology in determining the structure of atherosclerotic plaques in a study presented Saturday.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is far superior to conventional B-mode ultrasound studies and roughly as good as 64-slice CT for detection of liver metastases, according to a study from Italy presented at the ECR on Saturday.

A small study from a breast cancer surveillance program of high-risk women found that annual MR imaging did not detect additional cancers beyond conventional screening with both mammography and clinical physical examination.

CT and MR angiography both provided more clinically useful information than duplex ultrasound in screening peripheral vascular disease. But when costs are factored in, CT emerged as the clear leader, according to a four-hospital study conducted in the Netherlands and described Saturday.

MR offers decided advantages as a tool for image guidance in radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors, but it also presents significant problems that must be overcome before its use becomes widespread, according to a pair of presentations March 5 at the European Congress of Radiology.

Enthusiasm about ultrasound as a complementary tool for screening women with dense breasts may be exaggerated or even unfounded, according to an Italian radiologist speaking Friday morning at the European Congress of Radiology in Vienna.

Enthusiasm about ultrasound as a complementary tool for screening women with dense breasts may be exaggerated or even unfounded, according to an Italian radiologist speaking Friday morning at the ECR.

Although musculoskeletal radiologists have long debated the relative roles of MRI and ultrasound in imaging shoulder injuries, they have reached consensus on a number of diagnostic algorithms. But the proliferation of inexpensive, low-end compact ultrasound systems has introduced a new controversy.

After reviewing the clinical literature on ultrasound imaging of the shoulder, Dr. David Stoller, director of musculoskeletal MRI at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, concluded that a significant amount of data was either flawed or inaccurate.

Manufacturers continue to close the performance gap between handheld ultrasound systems and their more expensive cart-based competitors. Underlying this development are transducer improvements and unique imaging enhancements, even as the engineers of these units advance their strong suit -- portability. Zonare Medical Systems and SonoSite exemplify this progress.

Options for image-guided procedures in the breast have expanded considerably over the past 20 years. A variety of modalities are now being used to perform diagnostic, localization, and therapeutic interventional procedures for breast disease.

Cognitively healthy elderly people who experience atrophy in the amygdala and hippocampus are more likely to develop dementia, according to a study in the January Archives of General Psychiatry.

In the wake of the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving every year, a city rises within the confines of Chicago's McCormick Place. It is a kind of radiological Epcot Center, a futuristic vision designed to dazzle; constructed of software, heavy iron, and handhelds; and swathed in platitudes.

Last year, an obese women in New York City claimed that her doctor suggested she go to the Bronx Zoo for an MRI because of her girth. Zoo officials, according to the New York Post, later said they had no elephant-sized MR machines onsite.

Released in late January, Fusion Matrix PACS version 2.1 introduces reading enhancements, including the ability to query and retrieve studies from third-party DICOM sources, reserve studies, and mark studies as preliminary. Other new tools include triangulation, which lets the user define a target point on an image to view the corresponding anatomic position in other series.

World leader in extremity MR Esaote is on its own. The Italian company, which has been a wholly owned member of the Bracco group since the turn of the decade, has been purchased by a private investment group. But Esaote is not headed into uncharted territory. The divestiture, which took effect Jan. 20 for an undisclosed sum, passes ownership of the maker of MR, ultrasound, and electrocardiography equipment to a group of investors that includes senior Esaote executives.

It has been ages since ultrasound was the darling of medical imaging, when Acuson handed out light sticks to celebrate its introduction of color flow, ATL christened computed sonography, and Diasonics raised the curtain on “Angio” imaging. Those were the Wild West days of ultrasound, when one company’s success was soon topped by another’s. Things have changed. The ultrasound industry today is far more civilized.