Sunday, July 15, 2007

College, society drop out of surgeon-sponsored breast ultrasound accreditation program

The American College of Radiology and the Society of Breast Imaging have walked away from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, an ambitious effort to certify breast ultrasound and ultrasound-guided interventions backed by the American College of Surgeons. They disagree with the program's accreditation standards, especially minimal physician qualifications for interpreting breast ultrasound and performing ultrasound-guided breast interventions.

After nearly two years of discussion, the ACR and SBI withdrew from deliberations after failing to persuade the NAPBC board to adopt the ACR's long-established standards, practice guidelines, and accreditation programs related to breast imaging and image-guided interventions, according to a statement issued by the college.



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Saturday, July 14, 2007

Real-Time 3-D Ultrasound Speeds Patient Recovery

Mayo Clinic physicians have adapted real-time 3-D ultrasound imaging devices -- including one designed to look at an infant's heart -- so that they can watch as they use a needle filled with anesthetic to numb individual nerves located inches under the skin. In this way, they can quickly block nerve function in selected areas of the body prior to surgery, an advance that may spare patients from use of general anesthesia and sends them home faster and with less need for pain medication.

Mayo anesthesiologists have demonstrated the benefits of real-time 3-D ultrasound in nerve blockade in more than 150 surgeries of varied types. Their presentations at scientific meetings and publications in peer-reviewed journals have informed other physicians worldwide into how this next-era ultrasound imaging technology may assist in peripheral nerve block placement -- the technique of disabling targeted nerves so that a patient doesn't feel pain from surgery.

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Sunday, July 1, 2007

In-Depth View Of The Brain Provided By 3-D Ultrasound Scanner

Biomedical engineers at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering have adapted a three-dimensional ultrasound scanner that might guide minimally invasive brain surgeries and provide better detection of a brain tumor's location.

The "brain scope," which is inserted into a dime-sized hole in the skull, may be particularly useful for the bedside evaluation of critically ill patients when computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment is unavailable, the researchers said. They report the development in a forthcoming issue of the journal Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, which is currently available online. The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

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