Reviews and News on Ultrasound Machines

Ultrasound technology has advanced dramatically since it was first introduced. Now, sonographers and radiologists can view more than just a static image on a piece of film. Thanks to new 4-D volumetric scanning, they can now see organs, fetal movements and blood flow in real time on a flat screen monitor.

These advancements in ultrasound equipment have allowed cardiologists to view the flow of blood and spot a blockage before it becomes a heart attack. Ultrasound probes can also be used after delicate organ transplant surgeries for follow-up care, instead of using more invasive techniques. And as advancements continue in ultrasound technology, it is now used frequently to diagnose problems with specific organs. Sonographers can take a multiple-clip dynamic image that can later be examined by a radiologist to view cross-sections of a 3-D image.

The major differences between the ultrasound equipment of the 80’s and 90’s, and what we are seeing today, is due to the addition of color Doppler and digital imaging. This technology offers doctors the ability to view movement and transitions that occur within an organ, artery or fetus.

Even the size and scope of hospital ultrasound equipment has changed over the past twenty years. Today’s machines can be moved from one part of a hospital to another, and offer far more sophisticated imaging techniques than the ultrasound machines of the past.

An even smaller, mobile unit will soon be available, thanks to a new “analog front-end” chip. Expect to see a full range of handheld ultrasound devices that can be used in mobile lifesaving units or on-site at disaster areas. As the demand for this equipment grows, and compact probes are adapted for diagnostic and post-operative treatment, physicians expect them to be used in even more medical and surgical applications.

Color Flow Mode (CFM) is also called as Color Flow Doppler Imaging (CFD). These are the ultrasonic imaging techniques used for measuring the blood flow through the heart. They display the flow data on the 2-D echocardiography image. The technique is mainly used for determining the congenital, valvular and other forms of disease related to heart.

The color flow mode imaging is based on the Doppler Effect of the acoustics. The Doppler Effect helps to find out the blood flow from different parts of the body. It helps to identify the direction of the flow of blood. Color flow mode imaging is understandable to the common user. They avoid the displays of the complex spectral velocity structures.

In the color flow imaging different colors defines the direction of the given jet. The red color and blue colors are taken for defining the direction. The change in the hues from bright to dull depicts the change in the velocities. When there is turbulence in the blood flow a mosaic of colors is formed. Therefore a 2-D display of the blood flow is depicted by the identification of size, velocity and direction.

Red color is used to depict the flow towards the transducer and the blue color is used to depict the flow away from the transducer. Different color references can always be seen in different Doppler Imaging devices. Generally in color flow mode the color bar of black color represents zero flow.

Color flow mode is a very easy and understandable way to study the ultrasonic waves to calculate the blood flow. By making different colors as the codes to measure the flow of blood people can get easily the meaning of the reports generated. These techniques work in the normal hearing range of the humans thus are not harmful for humans.

Mammography machines help analyze breast tissue for possible incidence of cancer and are the choicest tools for guiding breast biopsy procedures. It works by directing a low frequency X-ray through the breast tissue and rendering detailed images for the physician to analyze. The high clarity and definition of these images helps perceive even delicate tissues within the breast. The GE Senographe DMR Mammography Machine is a highly advanced state of the art piece of medical equipment from GE that delivers high performance at affordable costs. GE has been a pioneer in mammography machine manufacturing and over the years has set high industry standards which are rarely matched by competitors.

The machine is very user friendly and has 5 photocells for expansive imaging functionalities in breast placement and digital angulations display. It also provides hands free compression and offers more interaction with the patient by way of vertical height adjustment. The quality of images rendered by a mammography machine is of utmost importance. The high image quality increases the diagnostic capabilities of physicians and the GE Senographe DMR is ahead of the competition in that it delivers high quality images with superb clarity by using dedicated MaxiRay X-ray tube and SharpIQ grid. The MaxiRay bi-metal rhodium or molybdenum tube offers extensive penetration and comes with an inner focusing cone. The high X-ray spectrum provided by these metals penetrates even the densest of breast tissues and reveals details that are obscure in images rendered by other machines.

The unrivalled image quality and magnification provided by this tube sets the machine apart from its competitors. The machine reduces exposure time, which ensures image quality and cuts down dose by 40 percent which allows for examination of dense breasts without reduction in image quality. The anti scatter grid movement is also optimized by the SharpIQ and DMR features which provides high definition images. The machine as with most GE products is consistent and reliable and also ensures automatic optimization of parameters. The digital display, flipping markers and single magnification stand all add to overall design and renders it highly user friendly.

Obstetrics is the special deal of care given to a lady and her child during her period of pregnancy, puerperium and child birth. In the obstetric exercise, the obstetric practitioners look after the pregnant woman on a regular basis to check the growth of the offspring. These obstetrics ensures that there is no ex-novo disease and no other preexisting diseases in the body of the pregnant woman which may possibly affect the baby in future.

Some of the risks which should be seen by an obstetric practitioner are pre-eclampsia, abnormal fetal presentation, abnormal placentation and intrauterine growth restriction. All such risk identification requires some special analysis of the woman on the regular basis. For example to check for pre-eclampsia, albuminuria i.e. the level of urine protein and blood pressure are checked at regular intervals.

In late pregnancies some of the fetal presentations get established like cephalic presentation which involves head first but the baby can be present buttocks first or feet first, transverse or at an oblique presentation. Some of the intrauterine growth restrictions observed by the obstetric practitioners is a general designation in which the offspring is smaller than the expected size, in this case such serious growth symptoms shows a behavior to drop off from the 50 percentile and coming above 10 percentile.

All the calculations are obtained when plotted on a fetal growth chart. Different causes can be extrinsic, relating to the problems apart from the fetus and different causes can be intrinsic, which means relating to the problems of the fetus. An obstetrician needs to check for all types of symptoms to save a child from any of the problems which may arise in future and for the pregnant lady to ensure the successful delivery. Thus for a complete growth of the child obstetrician has a big role to play.

OIt has long been noted that there are ever expanding uses for ultrasound machine technology in the medical environment. But in the mind of most non-medical people, ultrasound is still associated with obstetrics. The increasingly-less-fuzzy images of a unborn baby still in its mother’s womb are powerful indeed, while the new 3D images are even more so. But the power of ultrasound use in medical practice extends far beyond the obstetrical practice and fuzzy baby picture keepsakes.

Eye surgeons are beginning to use ultrasound machine technology more and more. In the case of trauma to the eye, a way had to be found to obtain an image of the injured eye while minimizing the brain’s exposure to ionizing radiation like x rays or CT scans. Ultrasound meets those requirements nicely and uses no ionizing radiation. Ultrasound machines can also be used to provide guidance when the surgeon must perform delicate procedures in and behind the fragile structures of the eye.

But there a more common use for ultrasound one that eye surgeons have placed at the center of corneal procedures. In corneal surgery, both for vision correction and transplantation, the measurement of the thickness of the cornea has become more and more important. There is even a type of surgery where the cornea is removed and shaped to become a living contact lens.

But all of these options are dependent on one thing: the thickness of the cornea. Measurement of the corneal thickness has a term, pachymetry. Ultrasound technology has become so ingrained with this term that the two are now used together. Ultrasound pachymetry is now what these measurements are called.

A specially designed and sized ultrasound probe is placed in the center of the eye and measures the thickness of the cornea much as the more common ultrasound collects images, with reflected sound waves. In this instance, the software that interprets the waves is a bit simpler.

In fact, other newer methods of pachymetry are being measured against ultrasound pachymetry. It has been, and will remain the gold standard for measurement both before and after eye surgery. One other essential for accurate ultrasound pachymetry is the skill of the technician, an important component of any successful ultrasound procedure.

According to a new study from the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, the combination of sonohysterography with transvaginal ultrasound improves clinicians’ ability to diagnose adenomyosis. Adenomyosis is a common and benign condition of the uterus. It can cause abnormal vaginal bleeding, dysmenorrhea, and pelvic pain. American Journal of Roentgenology, the monthly journal of the American Roentgen Ray Society (AARS), is publishing study results in its April issue.

Sonohysterography, or SHG, is a technique which involves infusing a fluid, typically sterile saline, through the cervix into the uterus by way of a soft plastic catheter. The uterine cavity is distended by the infusion. The uterine lining is then easier to visualize, allowing for greater diagnostic specificity of uterine and endometrial pathology. The transvaginal ultrasound probe is inserted as usual.

The lead author of the study was Sachit Verma, M.D. The study included 26 women. According to Dr. Verma, “This study describes the presence of ill-defined areas of fluid intravasation extending from the uterine cavity into the myometrium known as fluid containing tracks or so called ‘myometrial cracks’ on SHG. Myometrial cracks have not been described previously as a sign of adenomyosis. The tracks, seen in 26% of our cases, become conspicuous as saline seeps through the ‘myometrial cracks’. They are difficult to characterize on standard transvaginal ultrasound.”

Transvaginal ultrasound machines alone has been the first diagnostic tool used in cases where adenomyosis is suspected. When it fails to provide a diagnosis, an MRI is usually the next step. As Dr. Verma points out, MRIs are expensive and there may be a wait to get the patient scheduled. The combination of sonohysterography together with transvaginal ultrasound appears to provide as much diagnostic specificity as an MRI without the associated costs and delay. In the instant study, 23 women had findings suggestive of adenomyosis when SHG was used. Adenomyosis was confirmed in 22 of the 23 women using an MRI.

Dr. Verma said, “Knowledge of ‘myometrial cracks’ will decrease the errors in interpretation and improve patient care so that specific treatment can be instituted. This additional information for the referring physician can possibly decrease the number of endometrial biopsies – reducing costs in patient management – in cases where SHG shows no uterine abnormality and adenomyosis is the sole cause of abnormal bleeding.” This study provides further proof of the continued utility of ultrasound machine technology.