SONOWORLD

FutureTech: Ultrasound Guided Biopsy by Robot
Engineers at Duke University have created a robot that can use 3D ultrasound to locate a test lesion in simulated human organs, guide a biopsy device to the lesion and take multiple samples during a single session

Ultrasound Guidance Facilitates Femoral Access, Cuts Complications
Ultrasound resulted in fewer insertion attempts, improved first pass success, reduced venipuncture, and shorter time to access compared with fluoroscopy but increases odds of successful cannulation only in patients with high femoral artery bifurcations.

Use of hospital equipment to scan pregnant dog creates controversy
Canadian health care facility “embarrassed” after story emerges that a staffer inappropriately used an emergency-department ultrasound scanner on a pregnant pet dog.

Baby scan home videos should be stopped
Society of Radiographers in the UK issued a statement discouraging patients and partners from using mobile phones or video cameras to record ultrasound examinations of pregnant mums.

Woman Pregnant With 2 Babies Due a Week Apart
Dual pregnancy with fetuses of different gestational ages in uterus didelphys.

Ultrasound Waves May Help Brain Disorders
Columbia Univ. bioengineer Elisa Konofagou is making waves when it comes to researching treatments for degenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. These aren't just any waves; they're ultrasound waves.

GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics Re-launches Optison™ Contrast Agent
GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics announced the market reintroduction of Optison™ (Perflutren Protein-Type A Microspheres Injectable Suspension, USP), a diagnostic ultrasound contrast agent for use in select echocardiograms. (Source: PRNewswire/GE Press Release)

Lantheus Launches DEFINITY® Ultrasound Contrast Imaging Agent in India
Company Expands Global Availability of DEFINITY® through Distributor J.B. Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.

Demonstration study on value of ultrasound guidance in nerve blocks
Demonstration study was performed to assess ability of participants to accurately recognize tissue spread of small volumes of anesthetic during ultrasound guided nerve block simulation in a phantom. Results indicate a high level of accuracy.

Endoscopic ultrasound evaluation is associated with improved outcomes in pancreatic cancer patients
First study to analyze a large population-based cancer registry and demonstrate that EUS evaluation improves overall pancreatic cancer survival

Doppler Ultrasound Can Reveal Presence of Subclinical Musculoskeletal Disease in Patients With Psoriasis
Patients with plaque-type psoriasis more frequently display pathological findings on power doppler ultrasound examination indicative for synovitis and enthesopathy compared with non-psoriatic patients.

Telemedicine Trialed for Obstetric Consultations
Nurse practitioner and sonographer team sees a patient in rural area and then brings in consultant physician via telemedicine system.

St. Jude Medical Acquires LightLab Imaging for $90 Million
LightLab's Optical Coherence Technology (OCT) uses near-infrared light to image the lumen of vessels. OCT competes with Intravascular Ultrasound. Article describes OCT as 10 times higher resolution and 20 times faster than IVUS.

Intra-operative strain imaging (elastography) during thermal ablation
in vivo results indicate strain imaging provides equivalent or better definition of ablated regions. (Source: HAL Inserm, France)

Jay D. Miller Named ZONARE President and CEO
Formerly of Kappametrics and Vital Images, Miller brings 25 years experience to ZONARE. (Source: PRNewswire Press Release)

Ultrasound-guided interscalene block placement accurate and successful
Ultrasound localization can provide accurate anesthetic placement not made possible by other techniques, according to investigators. (Source: OrthoSuperSite)

Acusphere Closes $10 Million Financing
Funds to be used to support continued development of Imagify. Company will submit a Marketing Authorisation Application in Europe and a Special Protocol Assessment in the United States. (Source: Wall Street Journal Market Watch, Business Wire Press Release)

In USA, a Mature PACS market is moving into replacement/upgrade mode
Market research report indicates that 85 percent of the planned purchases 2010-12 will be upgrades or replacement systems, compared to 15 percent for first-time buyers.

Medical Center notifies 2,600 patients endoscopic ultrsound device wasn't properly disinfected
The risk associated with the ultrasound endoscope is low, the hospital said, but it informed those affected. Problem was due to a misprint in the device application guide. (Source: Star Tribune)

Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Identifies Patients With Asymptomatic Hyperuricaemia
ROME -- June 22, 2010 -- Despite a lack of symptoms, individuals with hyperuricaemia may be experiencing undetected joint damage, and these patients may benefit from urate-lowering therapy, researchers said here at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). (Source: D

Taking ultrasound into the community
A pilot study in the UK involving eight community midwives from Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust suggests that portable ultrasound has the potential to reduce hospital admissions for presentation scans. (Source: Midwives Information Resource Services & Siemens Health Care Press Release

Congress urged to give FDA power to regulate CT scans
Amid growing concern over the safety of CT scans, some experts say Congress should give the Food and Drug Administration power to ensure that patients aren't exposed to dangerously high levels of radiation. (Source: USA Today News)

China’s ultrasound market set to exceed $1 billion by 2014
The Chinese market for ultrasound imaging equipment has seen tremendous growth over the last two years, in contrast with the dramatic effects of the economic recession in the Western European and North American markets.

USA Senator Calls for New Rules for For-Profit Colleges
Senator Harkin said he was concerned that for-profit colleges received a disproportionate share of federal aid, and spent a large share of their revenues on expenses unrelated to teaching, while their students tended to borrow extensively and default more. (source: the New York Times)

Study Assesses Paramedics Performing Ultrasound in Ambulance
Small study demonstrates feasibility of paramedics performing FAST and AAA ultrasound in ambulance. (Source: EMS.com)

Identification of vulnerable and dangerous carotid astherosclerotic plaques
An overview of current state of the art in detection of plaques associated with cardiovascular events. New functional imaging techniques allow pathophysiological cellular processes to be followed in-vivo. (Source: European Society of Cardiology)

Toshiba Names Tomo Hasegawa Director of Ultrasound Business Unit
“Tomo has a broad range of experience in ultrasound engineering, research and development, marketing, sales and management,” said Doug Ryan, vice president, ... (Source: Businesswire Press Release)

British women with PIP breast implants have been warned to have breast ultrasound
Up to 50,000 British women... have implants filled with a silicone gel that may have been made for mattresses... and may also lack a protective coating to prevent splitting and gel leakage. (Source: Daily Mail UK)

Interpretation Errors in Echocardiography Linked to Lack of Training
Abstract presented at ASE conference detailed link between level of training and error rate. (Source: Medpage Today based on ASE press release)

Carotid artery ultrasound may be useful in screening of patients with unexplained decreased heart pump function.
Absence of carotid artery disease suggests that coronary artery disease is unlikely as the cause of decreased heart pump function. (Source: Press release from NYU Langone Medical Center via Eurekalert.org)

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