Journal of clinical ultrasound : JCU
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Assess patient discomfort during two different methods of injection of Morton's neuroma. ⋯ Injection of Morton's neuroma was better tolerated via a dorsal approach and use of preliminary LA did not confer any benefit.
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Blunt chest trauma can cause serious complications, but coronary artery occlusion is rare. In a 19-year-old man, 40 days after a motorcycle accident, comprehensive echocardiography detected left anterior descending artery occlusion and left ventricular dysfunction, which was confirmed by coronary angiography and ventriculography. Echocardiography was also able to confirm restored left anterior descending artery flow and improved left ventricular function after coronary artery bypass grafting.
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Bicaval dual lumen catheters improve the efficiency of veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation by minimizing recirculation with an innovative design, which requires precise placement of three catheter ports in the superior vena cava, right atrium, and inferior vena cava, respectively. However, the exact position of these catheter ports is usually not known during placement because they cannot be visualized with conventional radiography. ⋯ At least one of the catheter ports was incorrectly positioned in 5 of 11 studies. Further prospective evaluation is necessary to determine if catheter repositioning based on transthoracic echocardiography findings can further improve the clinical efficiency of veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
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Periodic quality control (QC) for ultrasound scanners checks their overall performance, reducing the risk of inaccurate diagnoses. Data from routine annual QC activity were analyzed to optimize the scheduling and the criteria of further QC programs. Among all the ultrasound scanners (68 transducers) in use at the Regional Medical Department of the Aosta Valley, which are currently tested, 48.6% showed problems, mainly (35.3%) related to defects detectable by physical and mechanical inspection. ⋯ Failures were significantly related to the workload and to the "technological level" of the equipment. QC scheduling should therefore include a daily/weekly physical inspection in addition to a more complete, objective and software algorithms-based test, the frequency of which should be tailored on the basis of the equipment characteristics. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2012.
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PURPOSE.: We performed an analysis of hospitalizations involving thoracentesis procedures to determine whether the use of ultrasonographic (US) guidance is associated with differences in complications or hospital costs as compared with not using US guidance. METHODS.: We used the Premier hospital database to identify patients with ICD-9 coded thoracentesis in 2008. Use of US guidance was identified using CPT-4 codes. ⋯ Logistic regression analyses demonstrate that US is associated with a 16.3% reduction likelihood of pneumothorax (adjusted odds ratio 0.837, 95% CI: 0.73-0.96; p= 0.014), and 38.7% reduction in likelihood of hemorrhage (adjusted odds ratio 0.613, 95% CI: 0.36-1.04; p = 0.071). CONCLUSIONS.: US-guided thoracentesis is associated with lower total hospital stay costs and lower incidence of pneumothorax and hemorrhage. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2011.