Wendy Despain

Calvarial dermoids and epidermoids in young pediatric patients can be monitored using ultrasound alone instead of x-ray based imaging, according to German researchers. Besides being safer and cheaper, sonography could rule out unnecessary surgeries.

Bedside ultrasound can be a valuable diagnostic tool for monitoring pulmonary congestion in patients with acute decompensated heart failure. As the heart weakens, fluid backs up into the lungs, and critical patients could benefit greatly by being monitored for their condition without having to be moved for radiographs or other diagnostic tests.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound with microflow imaging provides noninvasive analysis of the vascular structure and hemodynamics of liver nodules. This analysis, in turn, provides information about how advanced hepatocellular carcinoma is.

Endoscopic ultrasound, a common test for adults, is rarely used on children. Researchers in Israel who studied the efficacy of the test on these smaller patients have found it to be a safe and effective tool for diagnosing pediatric gastroenterology patients.

Solid renal parenchymal lesions with a diameter of 5 cm or less can be difficult to diagnose, requiring irradiation and biopsy. Catching renal cell carcinoma in early stages before tumors grow larger than 7 cm, however, increases a patient’s chances of survival over five years. Researchers in China have found that contrast-enhanced ultrasound can accurately diagnose these small lesions.

Ultrasound measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter can gauge intracranial pressure in patients who cannot tolerate invasive assessments. Sonography has proved useful in brain-injured pediatric patients, and a recent study confirmed that optic nerve sheath diameter correlates with intracranial pressure in adults with brain injuries.

Ultrasound elastography provides an accurate diagnosis for malignant thyroid nodules about eight out of 10 times, according to Italian researchers. Elastography has previously shown promise in the diagnosis of breast and prostate cancers.

Portable ultrasound in the emergency room can identify pulmonary embolism in patients having difficulty breathing, allowing for prompt treatment.

Transvaginal ultrasound exams conducted by expert practitioners can replace MR imaging for preoperative staging of endometrial cancer. Researchers conclude that expensive MRIs should be reserved for patients whose ultrasound exams are unclear.

Specific lung ultrasound signs reliably indicate common causes of acute respiratory failure and rapidly differentiate it from similar diseases. More than 90% of patients admitted to university teaching hospital intensive care units with trouble breathing could have been easily diagnosed with lung ultrasound.

Transcranial ultrasound provides a differential diagnosis for parkinsonian syndromes before the disease progresses beyond the very first, nonspecific, clinical signs, according to a new study. Researchers conducting the study say this noninvasive and inexpensive test should become routine, as early diagnosis would allow for disease-specific treatment to start sooner.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound detected portal vein thrombosis far better than CT in cases complicating hepatocellular carcinoma. While CT found only 68% of thrombi, contrast-enhanced ultrasound identified every one in the study. It also did a far better job of helping determine if they were malignant.

Doppler ultrasound shows that diabetic nephropathy may affect the kidneys of pediatric diabetes patients long before clinical indications become evident. Diabetes-related microvascular complications rarely reach clinical stages in childhood, but researchers investigated whether Doppler ultrasound could identify differences in the renal blood flow of children with diabetes compared with normal controls.

Transvaginal ultrasound examination results predict the ultimate success of in vitro fertilization best when performed on the same day that human chorionic gonadotrophin is administered.

Portable ultrasound has successfully imaged patients being transported to the hospital via helicopter, allowing for early assessment of internal abdominal injuries and fluid in the pericardium. The examiners used standard focused assessment by sonography in trauma (FAST) protocols.

Endoscopic ultrasound identified pancreatic lesions when abdominal CT findings showed only enlarged or prominent pancreas. This finding is a common result of CT scans of the pancreas, but its clinical significance is unclear. One group of researchers that followed up such CT scans using endoscopic ultrasound was able to conclusively identify lesions, including pancreatic cancer.

Neovascularity measured with power Doppler ultrasound can be used to both diagnose and rule out tennis elbow. This approach could improve patient care, as clinicians start their search sooner for less common causes of elbow pain, instead of waiting to see if treatment for tennis elbow resolves the problem.

Injected contrast improved liver ultrasound sensitivity and specificity in malignant liver lesions, aiding diagnosis in 13.7% of cases in a French study. Researchers concluded that contrast-enhanced ultrasound should be routine practice when considering surgical management of hepatic lesions.

Standard musculoskeletal ultrasound is better than gold standard radiography at detecting overall joint pathology in the hands and feet of patients with psoriatic arthritis. MR imaging showed marginally better sensitivity at detecting joint effusions and synovitis, while radiography detected more erosions in the joints. But the low cost and comparable performance of ultrasound make it a viable tool for assessment of the small joints of patients with psoriatic arthritis.

Ultrasound assessment of cervical length in first pregnancies past 41 weeks can serve as an independent predictor of the likelihood of spontaneous labor and successful vaginal delivery. Cervical length was shorter in women who experienced spontaneous onset of labor.

Ultrasound assessment of cervical length in first pregnancies past 41 weeks can serve as an independent predictor of the likelihood of spontaneous labor and successful vaginal delivery. Cervical length was shorter in women who experienced spontaneous onset of labor.

Color Doppler flow and sonographic wall thickness are as good as -- and in some cases better than -- contrast MRI for showing the extent of Crohn’s disease. Both ultrasound and MRI match clinical results from barium studies, surgery, and colonoscopy.

Ultrasound exams conducted by expert sonographers make a measurable difference over routine exams in the treatment of suspected ovarian cancer, decreasing the number of major staging procedures and reducing in-patient hospital stays.

Lung ultrasound exams reliably detect respiratory distress syndrome in premature neonates and could be used as a radiation-free method for diagnosis and guidance for treatment.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound is almost as accurate as contrast-enhanced CT for diagnosing solid organ injuries in children following blunt abdominal trauma. This less expensive option is also beneficial because it doesn't require irradiating young patients.

Ultrasound exams of patients with a history of idiopathic carpal tunnel are better diagnostic tools than the standard physical maneuvers known as Tinel’s sign and Phalen’s maneuver.

Three-D ultrasound examination shows the location, size, and perivesical spreading of bladder tumors just as well as conventional cystoscopy. The technique has the advantage of being noninvasive.

The ultrasound signs known as lung comets predict cardiovascular events better than other ultrasound predictors in patients with chest pain and shortness of breath.

Laryngeal ultrasound can provide useful diagnostic information about benign lesions of the vocal folds. Unlike other assessment methods, it is noninvasive and inexpensive and requires no anesthesia or radiation.

Bedside ultrasound quickly and accurately verifies the placement of endotracheal tubes in pediatric patients, even when the standard tests give false-negative or equivocal results, according to a recent study.