On the frontlines

Ultrasound research is being conducted on many fronts, with technology advances enabling exciting new applications for ultrasound. Ultrasound has become the modality of choice for many clinical procedures due to more and better data throughput, higher resolution imaging, decreasing cost, and less patient risk. Some of these areas are:

• 2D arrays for 3D imaging, to display details never seen before, for example, tissue characterization of the breast, prostate, and liver. This can lead to earlier diagnosis and may help avoid invasive biopsy.

• Elastography, to measure tissue stiffness and thus open up new diagnostic possibilities.

• Automated breast scan (ABS) to provide painless breast-cancer screening.

• Quantitative ultrasound, which includes the measurement of cardiac function, bone density, and tissue perfusion.

• Therapeutic-ultrasound techniques, which include low-intensity ultrasound that examines the brain for neurological disorders, as well as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to ablate tissues.

• Image-guided procedures, which include interventional radiology, guided biopsy, and targeted therapeutics.

• mHealth applications, which aim to offer high-quality, affordable ultrasound for remote diagnosis, whereby the scan is performed by a non-specialist and sent to the Cloud to be interpreted by a radiologist.

For more technical information on advanced ultrasound see “HCC ultrasound promises to advance diagnostic clinical procedures“