Ultrasound in medicine & biology
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Interventional ultrasound, i.e., US-guided interventions, are diagnostic or therapeutic minimally invasive procedures guided by real-time ultrasound imaging, preferably using attachable needle steering devices. Guided fine- and coarse-needle biopsies of US-detectable abnormalities provide a firm basis for diagnosis and therapy. Multiple US-guided drainage and catheterization procedures such as nephrostomy, pleuracentesis, cholecystostomy, abscess drainage and central venous catheterization, etc., are rapid and safe alternatives to conventional drainage methods and open surgery. ⋯ Focal treatment of malignant tumours in the liver and prostate, using a variety of US-guided methods, are investigated. Complications of interventional ultrasound are reportedly low with a 0.19% overall complication rate and a 0.04% mortality rate. It is concluded that ultrasound provides a safe and cost-effective dynamic imaging modality for guidance of the increasing range of diagnostic and therapeutic interventional procedures.