Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
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The purposes of this study were to describe a technique for treatment of meralgia paresthetica (lateral femoral cutaneous neuropathy) using ultrasound guidance and to report the results of treatment. ⋯ Treatment of meralgia paresthetica with ultrasound-guided perineural injections resulted in substantial symptom relief in most patients 2 months after injection. Randomized placebo-controlled trials of this treatment should be considered in the future.
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Case Reports
Sonographic appearances of small organizing hematomas and thrombi mimicking superficial soft tissue tumors.
We retrospectively reviewed 2 cases of organizing hematomas and 2 cases of intravascular organizing thrombi and investigated correlations between sonographic and pathologic findings. In all 4 cases, a well-defined hypoechoic heterogeneous mass with surrounding increased echogenicity was evident in the subcutaneous fat layer. Organizing hematomas and thrombi have sonographic features similar to those of benign-looking soft tissue tumors. These lesions should therefore be considered in the differential diagnosis of superficial soft tissue masses.
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Case Reports
Unexpected findings on point-of-care superficial ultrasound imaging before incision and drainage.
Cutaneous abscesses are typically incised and drained on the basis of clinical assessment. In most cases this procedure is a safe practice. ⋯ In 1 case, the ultrasound results were ignored, and incision and drainage was completed, confirming the suspected abscess was indeed a solid mass later diagnosed as a carcinoma. In this case series, point-of-care ultrasound interrogation provided rapid assessment and discovery of potentially catastrophic anatomic relationships, avoiding serious complications.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of procedural times for ultrasound-guided perineural catheter insertion in obese and nonobese patients.
Perineural catheter insertion with ultrasound guidance alone has been described, but it remains unknown whether this new technique results in the same procedural time and success rate for obese and nonobese patients. We therefore tested the hypothesis that obese patients require more time for perineural catheter insertion compared to nonobese patients despite using ultrasound. ⋯ On the basis of this retrospective analysis, perineural catheter insertion is not prolonged in obese patients compared to nonobese patients when an ultrasound-guided technique is used. However, these results are only suggestive and require confirmation through prospective study.
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The purpose of this study was to determine whether the physical properties and vascular environment of active myofascial trigger points associated with acute spontaneous cervical pain, asymptomatic latent trigger points, and palpably normal muscle differ in terms of the trigger point area, pulsatility index, and resistivity index, as measured by sonoelastography and Doppler imaging. ⋯ The results presented in this study show that myofascial trigger points may be classified by area using sonoelastography. Furthermore, monitoring the trigger point area and pulsatility index may be useful in evaluating the natural history of myofascial pain syndrome.