Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
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Extended focused assessment with sonography in trauma (EFAST) examinations are routinely performed by emergency physicians and general surgeons as an integral part of trauma care. Although guidelines for competency in the EFAST examination exist, tools to assess competency are lacking. Our goal was to develop and validate a Web-based competency assessment tool to evaluate providers who perform the EFAST examination. ⋯ Use of this assessment tool for interpretation of EFAST images showed face and content validity. Score trends showed a significant correlation with existing ACEP guidelines, ultrasound experience, and the training level. Scores continued to improve with experience beyond ACEP recommended guidelines.
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The purpose of this study was to describe a technique using ultrasound guidance to perform thoracic facet joint injections. ⋯ We describe a relatively feasible technique for performing thoracic facet joint injections using ultrasound guidance. Further verification of this technique, and modification if applicable, should be performed before directly applying this technique in a clinical practice setting.
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Case Reports
High-intensity focused ultrasound treatment of abnormal vaginal bleeding secondary to uterine myoma.
We describe the use of high-intensity focused ultrasound for acute vaginal bleeding secondary to uterine myoma in 2 young female patients. Both patients had episodes of abnormal vaginal bleeding with severe dysmenorrhea that was not efficiently controlled by medical treatment. ⋯ The patients remained free of symptoms during 2 months of follow-up and regained normal menstruation after high-intensity focused ultrasound therapy. High-intensity focused ultrasound treatment is one of the least invasive options for dysfunctional vaginal bleeding and may be an effective and safe alternative to other procedures in women of reproductive age with abnormal vaginal bleeding secondary to uterine myoma.
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We compared trilinear interpolation to voxel nearest neighbor and distance-weighted algorithms for fast and accurate processing of true 3-dimensional ultrasound (3DUS) image volumes. In this study, the computational efficiency and interpolation accuracy of the 3 methods were compared on the basis of a simulated 3DUS image volume, 34 clinical 3DUS image volumes from 5 patients, and 2 experimental phantom image volumes. We show that trilinear interpolation improves interpolation accuracy over both the voxel nearest neighbor and distance-weighted algorithms yet achieves real-time computational performance that is comparable to the voxel nearest neighbor algrorithm (1-2 orders of magnitude faster than the distance-weighted algorithm) as well as the fastest pixel-based algorithms for processing tracked 2-dimensional ultrasound images (0.035 seconds per 2-dimesional cross-sectional image [76,800 pixels interpolated, or 0.46 ms/1000 pixels] and 1.05 seconds per full volume with a 1-mm(3) voxel size [4.6 million voxels interpolated, or 0.23 ms/1000 voxels]). On the basis of these results, trilinear interpolation is recommended as a fast and accurate interpolation method for rectilinear sampling of 3DUS image acquisitions, which is required to facilitate subsequent processing and display during operating room procedures such as image-guided neurosurgery.