Feature | May 18, 2011 | Donald Barry, Ph.D.

The last couple of years in the United States and Europe have seen an increased focus on the cumulative patient dose received from a wide variety of X-ray devices including classical X-ray, computed tomography (CT), interventional radiology and mammography. The deleterious effects of radiation dose have received widespread coverage, and the partial answer has been a movement towards non-ionizing diagnostic imaging equipment, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound.

The increased use of ultrasound both in diagnostic and guided applications, as well as in specific venues such as the emergency room, is well documented and continues to rise. This rapid increase is expected to continue as the newer ultrasound units, especially hand-carried and hand-held units, continue to improve and as new and better software applications for noise reduction and image enhancements become available.

The relatively low-energy acoustic waves used in ultrasound, which make for a relatively safe diagnostic imaging environment, lead to difficulties penetrating thick layers of human tissue. With approximately two-thirds of the U.S. populations estimated to be obese and other estimates showing that more than 50 percent of all abdominal scans are of technically difficult patients (typically with a BMI in excess of 30), this problem dominates the diagnostic ultrasound market in both the United States and Europe. Also, various sources estimate the average exam of a difficult patient takes 20-40 percent longer – if it can even be carried out.

The liver and other key abdominal organs can lie 4 to 5 centimeters below the surface in difficult patients. This presents great difficulties in achieving good diagnostic quality ultrasounds and places more physical strain on sonographers and radiologists. Radiologists must use a lower frequency probe to penetrate the tissue, which leads to a concomitant loss of resolution. In cases where the low-frequency probe fails, the radiologist must resort either to a more expensive and time-consuming MRI exam or a dose-producing CT exam.

The ultrasound industry has recognized this challenge and developed a number of technologies both in software and hardware to address it. Leading probe manufacturers have attacked the problem via advanced design and materials. Software suppliers have also developed targeted approaches to penetrate the deep tissue. For example, ContextVision’s newest ultrasound image enhancement product includes a directed, focused image enhancement mode. This mode allows the user to enhance deep-lying organs without over-effecting mid- and near-field structures. When combined with the newest probe technology, this image enhancement technology will alleviate some of the issues associated with ultrasound examinations of technically difficult patients.

Donald Barry is director of commercial development for ContextVision, which is an independent developer of medical imaging enhancement, analysis and processing technologies, serving leading OEMs and distributors for more than 25 years.


Related Content

News | Digital Radiography (DR)

March 20, 2023 — A study by Emory Healthcare reports that Konica Minolta Healthcare’s Dynamic Digital Radiography (DDR) ...

Time March 20, 2023
arrow
News | X-Ray

March 20, 2023 — Researchers from UNSW Sydney have developed an algorithm which produces high-resolution modeled images ...

Time March 20, 2023
arrow
News | Radiopharmaceuticals and Tracers

March 16, 2023 — A supply problem with Pluvicto [177Lu-vipivotide tetraxetan; Novartis], the radiopharmaceutical used to ...

Time March 16, 2023
arrow
Feature | Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) | By Brad Sutton

March 16, 2023, marks 50 years since Paul Lauterbur published his seminal Nature paper establishing zeugmatography — now ...

Time March 16, 2023
arrow
News | Coronavirus (COVID-19)

March 13, 2023 — The American College of Radiology (ACR) and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) ...

Time March 13, 2023
arrow
Videos | Enterprise Imaging

Philips Radiology Operations Command Center (ROCC) is a vendor-neutral, multi-modality, multi-site telepresence tool ...

Time March 13, 2023
arrow
News | Artificial Intelligence

March 10, 2023 — Breast cancer undisputedly has the highest incidence rate in female patients. Moreover, out of the six ...

Time March 10, 2023
arrow
News | Digital Radiography (DR)

March 9, 2023 — Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas, Inc., congratulates the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) ...

Time March 09, 2023
arrow
News | Artificial Intelligence

March 8, 2023 — An artificial intelligence (AI) tool can accurately identify normal and abnormal chest X-rays in a ...

Time March 08, 2023
arrow
Feature | Ultrasound Imaging | By Robert Bard, MD, DABR, FAIUM, FASLMS

Electromagnetic therapies currently used in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space centers ...

Time March 08, 2023
arrow
Subscribe Now