Ultrasound in medicine & biology
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Jan 2004
Percutaneous management of breast abscesses. An experience of 39 cases.
This is a review of our experience with percutaneous drainage by means of needle aspiration or catheter drainage of breast abscesses under ultrasound (US) guidance, and a suggested management algorithm. A retrospective study of the 39 patients (36 women, 3 men; mean age: 28.9 years) with breast abscesses who were treated by percutaneous US-guided procedures over a period of 13 years (1989 to 2002) was carried out. Of the 36 women, 34 were nonlactating and two lactating. ⋯ Percutaneous drainage procedures in breast abscesses are a safe and effective alternative to incision and drainage. Needle aspiration is employed in cases of small abscesses and catheter drainage in abscesses larger than 3 cm. Although, in chronic abscesses, the treatment of choice is surgical excision, percutaneous drainage remains as an intermediate therapeutic option.
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Nov 2003
Comparative StudyThe usefulness of quantitative ultrasound at the hand phalanges in the detection of the different types of nontraumatic fractures.
The aim of this retrospective study was to determine whether quantitative ultrasound (QUS) at the hand phalanges has the ability to discriminate between individuals without and with different types of nontraumatic fractures. All women (n = 2466) (age range 38-88 years) not affected by metabolic diseases or under treatment with drugs known to interfere with bone metabolism were divided into controls without fractures (n = 1883) and women with nontraumatic previous fractures (n = 583). Fractures were the result of minimal trauma involving a fall from a standing height or less during normal daily activity. ⋯ By multiple logistic regression analysis, the probability of having fracture, estimated as odds ratio for each 1 SD reduction in Ad-SoS, was: 3.49 (95% CI, 1.57-7.75) for hip, 3.25 (95% CI, 1.94-5.45) for spine, 2.24 (95% CI, 1.86-2.70) for wrist and 1.81 (95% CI, 1.36-2.40) for other fractures. The present study demonstrates the ability of phalangeal QUS to discriminate between subjects with and without different types of nontraumatic fractures. Phalangeal QUS revealed the best sensitivity and specificity in discriminating hip- and spine-fractured patients from controls.
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Sep 2003
Perfusion harmonic imaging in acute middle cerebral artery infarction.
Initial reports indicate that cerebral perfusion deficits in acute ischemic stroke might be detectable by means of transcranial harmonic imaging after an ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) bolus injection. Twenty-four patients with acute middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarction were investigated twice with perfusion harmonic imaging (PHI) after Levovist (Schering, Berlin, Germany) bolus injection no longer than 12 h after symptom onset. The findings were compared with those of cranial computed tomography (CCT). ⋯ The area of hypoperfusion in the initial PHI investigation correlated with the definite area of infarction in follow-up CCT (r=0.66, p<0.01). When time-intensity curves of both hemispheres were compared, the areas under the curve were significantly less in the symptomatic brain regions (p=0.01). With PHI and UCA bolus injection, it is possible to assess cerebral perfusion deficits that correlate with the definite area of infarction in acute ischemic stroke patients.
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Sep 2003
Assessment of local changes of cerebral perfusion and blood concentration by ultrasound harmonic B-mode contrast measurement in piglet.
This study tested the hypothesis that changes in the blood concentration, and possibly in the perfusion, of different areas in the brain can be assessed by the use of ultrasound contrast agent (CA) and (linear) echo densitometry. The experiments were performed with piglets (n=3) under general anesthesia and artificial ventilation. Ultrasound CA was administered through a femoral vein as a short bolus. ⋯ High sensitivity to physiologic changes related to hypercapnia was observed for the peak contrast of wash-in curves. For up-slope and area-under-the-curve (first passage) this was lower but still highly significant. The gray-level ultrasound measures are highly correlated to changes in regional hemoglobin concentration in brain tissue assessed by NIRS.
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Jun 2003
3-D US frame positioning using speckle decorrelation and image registration.
In this paper, a new positioning system is proposed for the 3-D ultrasound (US). This system combines the image registration technique and speckle decorrelation algorithm to accurately position sequential ultrasonic images without any additional positioning hardware. The speckle decorrelation algorithm estimates the relative distance of two neighboring frames and the image registration technique gets the range of the whole 3-D ultrasonic data set and makes slight modification on each frame's position. ⋯ This reference image intersects each frame of the 3-D ultrasonic data set in a line. For each frame, the intersectional line is first found and then the location in the reference image can be used to estimate the position of this frame. This system uses the data set of consecutive 2-D freehand-scanned US B-mode images to construct the 3-D US volume data, and it can be integrated into the 3-D US volume rendering system.