Saturday, September 29, 2007

Ultrasound Plus Mammography Finds More Cancers, But Increases False Positives

Adding ultrasound to mammography finds more cancers than mammography alone, but also substantially increases the number of false positives, according to first-year results from a three year study of the two tests.

"At this point, it's not clear whether the benefit provided by ultrasound outweighs the additional expense, stress and inconvenience caused by the false positives," said study co-author Etta Pisano, M.D., vice dean for academic affairs in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Kenan professor of radiology and biomedical engineering and director of the UNC Biomedical Research Imaging Center.

source

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Ultrasound Informed Consent Act Legislation

Senator and Republican hopeful Sam Brownback of Kansas has introduced legislation title the Ultrasound Informed Consent Act. The bill would require doctors to perform ultrasounds and share the results with women before performing an abortion.

“It is necessary and right to provide a woman seeking an abortion with all the available information so that she may make the most informed decision possible,” Brownback said in a statement. “The Ultrasound Informed Consent Act would ensure that women have access to important information.”

Brownback says the measure puts the requirements solely on the doctor, not the woman. He says a woman may refuse to view the ultrasound images.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Determining "Vascular Age": Siemens Introduces A New Ultrasound Application For Evaluating The Risk Of Heart Disease

Siemens Medical Solutions expanded its portfolio of ultrasound applications: the syngo Arterial Health Package (AHP) calculates cardiovascular risks by measuring the carotid intima media thickness and determining the so-called vascular age - the relative age of the vessel. Together with other factors, such as cholesterol values and blood pressure, the physician can use the results of syngo AHP to better assess a patient's myocardial or stroke-related risk and establish an individual prevention and treatment plan. At the ESC 2007, the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology in Vienna from September 1 to 5, 2007, Siemens Medical Solutions will introduce syngo AHP for the first time in Europe.

The syngo Arterial Health Package (AHP) determines the vascular age, that is, the advance of atherosclerotic burden and displays it to the patient. Knowing the vascular age supports the physician in more accurately determining the personal risk of a patient to develop coronary heart disease, in rendering a prognosis, and in developing a prevention and therapy plan. The new ultrasound application provides a measurement of the intima media thickness of the carotid - the innermost layer of the carotid vessel wall. An abnormal widening of the intima media is considered evidence of threatening or already existing arteriosclerosis.

source article from Medical News Today

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Star Trek Medical Device Uses Ultrasound To Seal Punctured Lungs

A stretcher races through the entrance of a busy hospital. The car accident victim lies on top and grimaces in pain. While surface injuries look gruesome, the real medical danger is invisible - internal organ damage caused by being crushed against the steering wheel.

This isn't a scene from Seattle Grace Hospital, the set of the popular television drama Grey's Anatomy, but from its real-life model, Harborview Medical Center. Engineers at the University of Washington are working with Harborview doctors to create new emergency treatments right out of Star Trek: a tricorder type device using high-intensity focused ultrasound rays. This summer, researchers published the first experiment using ultrasound to seal punctured lungs.

source article