This week we're pleased to feature the second in an ongoing series of articles on ultrasound imaging by Dr. Lars Thorelius of University Hospital in Sweden. The series uses a new image compression technique that enables dynamic ultrasound clips to be viewed over the Internet using off-the-shelf media players.
This week’s article discusses the use of second-generation microbubble contrast agents in the detection and characterization of liver tumors. Preliminary clinical results show that microbubble-enhanced ultrasound can readily distinguish benign from malignant tissue in a variety of lesion types, according to Dr. Thorelius.
The technique yields distinct enhancement patterns, meaning that, in some cases, ultrasound can replace more expensive tests like CT or MRI for lesion assessment. In addition, the University Hospital group has successfully detected liver lesions as small as 5 mm. Smaller lesions have always been a technical challenge for ultrasound departments.
To view the article, just visit our Ultrasound Digital Community at http://ultrasound.auntminnie.com . You’ll need to have Windows Media Player installed on your computer, as well as the image-compression algorithm (both of which are available for free on the Internet). Finally, as dynamic ultrasound files tend to be somewhat large, you'll get much faster results using a high-speed Internet connection.
