Dear Ultrasound Insider,
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) continues to rise in popularity in various clinical settings. Proponents have cited the technology’s convenience in bedside imaging, low cost, noninvasiveness, and comparable performance to conventional ultrasound as reasons for this trend.
However, who exactly is using POCUS, and how can knowing help with standardized training for radiologists, sonographers, and clinicians of other specialties? A team from the POCUS Certification Academy is finding out with its POCUS25 study, which identified the top 25 practice domains among POCUS users. The team spoke with AuntMinnie.com about this initiative’s goals and how it’s designed to run forever. Find out more in this featured story.
Earlier this month, researchers and experts gathered in Austin, TX, for UltraCon, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine's annual meeting. When attendees were not gazing at the solar eclipse that passed through the area, they learned about ultrasound’s various uses in screening and diagnostic settings, whether it’s POCUS imaging of the pancreas, harmonic motion imaging for predicting breast tumor response to chemotherapy, or contrast-enhanced ultrasound for locoregional therapy in treating metastatic liver disease.
Educators and department leaders also learned how an expedited course with smaller class sizes improves students' confidence in ultrasound and how standardized training could improve learning for extended focused assessment with sonography in trauma.
Finally, UltraCon attendees caught a glimpse of what the future may hold for ultrasound in medicine. Former Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak, PhD, spoke with AuntMinnie.com on how the modality’s advancement will take dedicated market creation and scalability. Also, Gil Weinberg, PhD, talked about how ultrasound can empower amputees who rely on prosthetics.
In other news, a study presented at the American Society of Breast Surgeons annual meeting in Orlando, FL, found that many women with early-stage HR+HER2- breast cancer and a negative presurgical axillary ultrasound can skip sentinel lymph node biopsy.
Finally, the Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound (SRU) recently issued a new expert consensus statement that aims to improve the evaluation of endometriosis. The statement authors spoke with AuntMinnie.com about recommendations for improving routine pelvic ultrasounds through additional maneuvers and imaging to improve diagnosis of deep endometriosis.
Do you like what you see here? Want to read more of the latest research and insights into ultrasound? Be sure to check out our Ultrasound content area! You can also send us an email to suggest other interesting topics within the modality.
