Ultrasound in medicine & biology
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Feb 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialUsing critical care chest ultrasonic examination in emergency consultation: a pilot study.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of critical care chest ultrasonic examination (CCUE) by intensivist on the diagnosis and treatment decisions in emergent consultation for patients who may have a problem-need transfer to an intensive care unit (ICU). A total of 130 patients who required emergent consultation in the ordinary wards were included in this study. ⋯ The CCUE group had a shorter time to preliminary diagnosis, final diagnosis, treatment response and X-ray/computed tomography examination; a delay in ICU transfer and ICU stay days (3.9 ± 1.2 vs. 5.4 ± 1.9 d, p < 0.05) and a higher diagnostic accuracy than the conventional group (p < 0.001). In conclusion, CCUE could help early diagnosis and therapy for the patient who may need to transfer to the ICU and reduce the ICU stay for in-hospital patients in emergent consultation.
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The value of ultrasound techniques in examination of the pleurae and lungs has been underestimated over recent decades. One explanation for this is the assumption that the ventilated lungs and the bones of the rib cage constitute impermeable obstacles to ultrasound. However, a variety of pathologies of the chest wall, pleurae and lungs result in altered tissue composition, providing substantially increased access and visibility for ultrasound examination. ⋯ Ultrasound is thus particularly valuable in follow-up of disease, differential diagnosis and detection of complications. Diagnostic and therapeutic interventions in patients with pathologic pleural and pulmonary findings can tolerably be performed under real-time ultrasound guidance. In this article, an updated overview is given presenting not only the benefits and indications, but also the limitations of pleural and pulmonary ultrasound.
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Feb 2015
The role of viscosity estimation for oil-in-gelatin phantom in shear wave based ultrasound elastography.
Shear wave based ultrasound elastography utilizes mechanical excitation or acoustic radiation force to induce shear waves in deep tissue. The tissue response is monitored to obtain elasticity information about the tissue. During the past two decades, tissue elasticity has been extensively studied and has been used in clinical disease diagnosis. ⋯ Viscosity can provide important and independent information about the inner state of the phantoms, in addition to the elasticity. Because the ARFI method ignores the dispersion of the shear waves, namely viscosity, it may bias the estimation of the true elasticity. This study sheds further light on the significance of the viscosity measurements in shear wave based elasticity imaging methods.