Dear Ultrasound Insider,
While the practice of "checklist" ultrasound based on specific views and looking for isolated signs has a lot to offer, it's time to consider some lessons from the traditional practice of diagnostic radiology, according to Dr. Jason Birnholz.
Dr. Birnholz explains why in his latest Practice of Ultrasound column, which is this month's Insider Exclusive. You can access the article before our regular members by clicking here.
In late-breaking news, a pair of just-released studies in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that young cancer patients treated with chemotherapy can be screened cost-effectively throughout their adult lives with echocardiography. International Editor Eric Barnes has our coverage.
In other feature articles in your Ultrasound Digital Community, find out how the use of ultrasound DICOM structured reporting tools could significantly improve dictation times over conventional reporting methods.
Experience matters in point-of-care ultrasound, at least for diagnosing appendicitis in children. That's the conclusion of a Mount Sinai School of Medicine team, which recently found that experienced sonologists had significantly higher sensitivity than those with less experience. They also found, however, that point-of-care ultrasound should not be relied upon to rule out the condition. Get the details here.
Fetal ultrasound scans can be difficult to perform in morbidly obese women. Fortunately, a Georgia research team has produced some recommendations for the optimal gestational age at which the studies should be performed. Click here for the results.
An article published in the May Journal of the American College of Radiology described how Medicare's code bundling of echocardiography in 2009 led to some unintended effects, according to our coverage by Associate Editor Kate Madden Yee.
Finally, a new technique based on near-infrared spectroscopy used during intravascular ultrasound was found to directly visualize unstable lipid core plaque.
Do you have an idea for a topic you'd like to see covered? As always, please feel free to drop me a line.
