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Posts Tagged ‘Ultrasound’

For patients with brain tumors who don’t have a variety of option have to settle with a surgery and radiation which can damage crucial parts of the brain. It is also seen that the chemotherapy drugs don’t easily percolate through the blood-brain barrier.

An effective solution is being launched where a procedure using magnets, ultrasound and minuscule drug-coated particles may be an effective solution, published in Tuesday’s edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers, led by Dr. Kuo-Chen Wei of Chang Gung University in Taiwan, injected tiny magnetic beads called nanoparticles, coated with a chemotherapy drug, into the rats’ tails. Ultrasound was used to open up a small region of
the blood-brain barrier and a magnetic field to attract the particles to an actual location in the brain. This procedure of treating rats with brain tumors resulted in slowing the tumor growth in rats lived two-thirds longer than untreated rats.

“The technology’s not very difficult,” Wei said, “but the idea is novel.”He also added that clinical trials in human beings are at least four to five years away.

It becomes difficult to treat brain tumors to treat with traditional drug delivery methods because the brain is insulated from circulating blood. The focused ultrasound which is much stronger than the ultrasound technique used on pregnant women temporarily disrupts the barrier and also allows drugs to enter.

Once the drugs get into the brain, It should be properly allotted to the actual places to cut down on the damage to healthy tissue. This report is the first in which magnetic targeting was combined with ultrasound to attract the nanoparticles and their drug passengers to a specific part of the brain.

“The method has significant clinical potential,” said Dr. Kullervo Hynynen of the University of Toronto Medical School, who conducts similar research but was not involved in the new study.

Wei and his team are working to improve the treatment so that it can be also used on humans. He declared that first additional chemotherapy drugs and nanoparticle types had to be tried, as well as improve the ultrasound and magnetic-targeting technology. Some scientists still are under the impression that opening the blood-brain barrier to allow powerful chemicals into the brain is too dangerous on humans.

“The potential for toxicity in normal brain regions could cause all kinds of problems,” said Allan David, a drug delivery researcher at the University of Michigan. “I think it’s an interesting study, but it’s still far from clinical studies.”

Some amount of danger in opening the blood-brain barrier can be avoided by combining Wei’s approach with a type of drug that is activated only upon reaching the tumor, David said, so that healthy brain tissue is left unharmed.

Ultrasound is the standard investigation done in the diagnosis and follow-up of urinary calculi. But researchers at the department of urology, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto suggest that ultrasound may not be the most reliable investigation in the management of renal stones.

According to them, the two promimant disadvantages of ultrasound when compared to computed tomography in renal stones management are:

1. Overestimation of stone size: When compared with axial unenhanced CT, ultrasound shows the size to be bigger than the actual size which can lead to unnecessary surgical interventions in cases where only conservative management is warranted. Thus the authors advise against for planning treatment based solely on ultrasonography (US) findings. The study also found that the skin-stone distance, ie the distance between the ultrasound probe over the skin and the position of the calculi, is a significant factor determining the magnitute of the error. The error was not dependent on the body mass index and location of the calculi in the urinary tract.

2. Poor sensitivity and specificity for kidney and ureter stones: The team found that the sensitivity and specificity of US for the detection of ureteric calculi was 45% and 94%, respectively, and for the detection of renal calculi was 45% and 88%, respectively. Thus they consider US as not that worthy during an initial workup in the diagnosis of renal stones.

The authors found that CT is superior to ultrasound and US may be limited to:

• pregnant and pediatric patients where exposure to radiation is harmful.
• follow-up of translucent urinary calculi.
• in cases of hydronephrosis
• when there is need for repeated CT

The lastes technology of visualizing your body is in the form of 3D/4D ultrasound. 3D ultrasound and 4D Ultrasound i.e. real time 3D or 3D in motion are a natural development of the imaging technology are becoming a clinical reality only now. People around the world prefer a 3D or a 4D to get the exact picture because it helps them to know more.

Talking about 3D ultrasound, this technology has helped in redefining traditional methods of CT and MRI images. The clinical application of 3D ultrasound is likely to advance rapidly, as improved 3D rendering technology becomes more widely available. 3D ultrasound features in helping the parents bond with future offspring. 3D ultrasound is a medical ultrasound technique, that is often used during pregnancy. 3D ultrasounds allow one to see a very clear and intricate images in much the same way as 3D movies but the only difference is that there is no movement.

The next and the most advanced technique is the 4D Ultrasounds that adds the element of time to the 3D process. A 4D ultrasound uses a special sonogram machine and takes images from a few different angles, which reveal more detailed images such as facial features. This technique can purely capture movements made by the baby during the procedure. 4D ultrasounds do not require a doctor’s order and are often done at a private ultrasound business, which specializes in keepsake 4D ultrasounds. The procedure is non-invasive and takes about twenty minutes to complete. 4D allows your doctor to visualize internal anatomy moving in real-time.

The advantages of the 3D and 4D technique are:

• Simplified 3D acquisition
• Reduces study time and decreases the waiting of patients
• Faster examination procedure
• The C-plane obtained, not possible in 2D
• Complete examination through increased perspective from volume data that means better qualitative and quantitative information to diagnose effectively
• All planes of view reproducible: virtual patient

Generally, the risks of 3D ultrasounds mirror those of 2D ultrasounds, as it uses the same ultrasound waves at the same intensity. The potential risk of 3D ultrasounds, if any, would depend on the duration of the ultrasound session rather than whether it is 2D or 3D or 4D. The only noted risk is that there is more than one report of a slight increase in left-handedness in boys whose mothers have received 3D ultrasounds. Left-handedness does not qualify as a medical effect according to the FDA. Other than the above stated risk, there are no reported medical defects or medical issues contributed to the 3D/4D ultrasounds. Medical studies show no increased risk of a 3D/4D ultrasound in comparison to a 2D ultrasound.

Today’s Ultrasound technology helps not only doctors but also the patients to visualize any region of the body, which is relatively inexpensive and safe, especially when compared with other techniques.

The technology of Ultrasound has helped doctors to such an extend that now through this technology, visualize any region of the body. The wave is actually a cyclic sound pressure that consists of a much higher frequency compared to the limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is basically produced for usage not only in the medical field but in various other fields where it s needed to percolate a medium and measure the reflection signature or supply focused energy.

Coming to medical sonography (ultrasonography), this is an ultrasound-based non-invasive diagnostic medical imaging technique used to visualize muscles, tendons, and many internal organs, to capture their size, structure and any pathological lesions with real time tomographic images. Ultrasound is used to help physicians evaluate symptoms like pain, swelling, infection. The technology is relatively inexpensive and safe, especially when compared with other techniques. Because ultrasound images are captured in real-time, they can show the structure and movement of the body’s internal organs, as well as blood flowing through blood vessels.

Lets see some of the advantages of Ultrasound:

• Scanning is non-invasive (no needles or injections) and is usually painless.
• They are widely available, easy-to-use and less expensive than other imaging methods.
• The technology uses sound waves and thus there is no danger of exposure to ionizing radiation like in X-ray, CT etc.
• The scanning gives a clear picture of soft tissues that do not show up well on x-ray images.
• This is preferred imaging modality for the diagnosis and monitoring of pregnant women and their unborn babies.
• Ultrasound provides real-time imaging, making it a good tool for guiding minimally invasive procedures such as needle biopsies and needle aspiration.
• For standard diagnostic ultrasound there are no known harmful effects on humans.
• Latest applications include its use in pain relief in muscles as well as stiff arthritic joints

For better images, an the ultrasound transducer or an ultrasound probeis placed over the skin over the region to be imaged. A Ultrasound gel is applied over the patient’s skin before the process begins. This is a non-sticky consistancy which is thick and clear that doesnt drip off when applied. The sound waves thus transmitted into the body strikes on the tissue, and reflect back. The reflected sound waves are again picked up by the transducer and send into the ultrasound machine where specialized software converts it into images.

Recent innovations in ultrasound technology include a three-dimensional (3-D) ultrasound that converts the sound wave data into 3-D images and even four-dimensional (4-D) ultrasound which is 3-D ultrasound in motion or movement. 4-D is basically used to view a baby and its movements on the screen from the womb.

For the best image, usage of branded ultrasound medical equipments are necessary. Quality ultrasound equipments such as ultrasound transducers and ultrasound probes undergo a carefully designed quality control process and are guaranteed to be in excellent condition, complete with the best warranty in the industry before they are bought.

Another useful equipment of Ultrasound one must not forget are the Portable Ultrasound Machines. The use of portable ultrasound equipments are on the rise due to the huge improvements in portable ultrasound image quality over the last few years. These machines can be carried around without much trouble. These come in use at times where there is an emergency, or a limited area of space, or when it has to be used on the field.

The energy of the sound waves emitted by an ultrasound machine is the latest technology next in line of non-invasive and non-surgical cosmetic techniques for facelift.

The innovative procedure called Ultherapy™, which has been in use in Europe and Asia since early 2009, has recieved FDA clearance in september 2009. The Ulthera system uses tightens the folds of the facial and neck skin using ultrasound energy; and the patient gets a facelift and neck lift in mere 30 minutes as an out-patient procedure.

Dr. Michael Bailey, M.D. who uses this technology in his cosmetic clinic in Boise, ID is among the first cosmetic surgeons adopting the technology in the U.S.

“We now have the ability to use ultrasound imaging to see the layers of tissue we want to treat below the surface of the skin, and then focus the same ultrasound energy to treat just the targeted tissue,” says Dr.Bailey.

He explains further that the response and results to the procedure is gradual because the treatment triggers a tissue regeneration process in the treated area and the collagen fibres developed fills under the skin tightening and lifting it. He also hopes that patients will accept this procedure as it is non-invasive.

Researchers at the Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering have found another useful application of ultrasound in healthcare. They have found out that high-frequency ultrasounic waves can treat tumor in animals in through innovative mechanism.

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is already in use or trial for their function of  killing tumor cells by heating them. But the researchers at Duke have found that if the high frequency sound waves could shake the cancerous cells, their cell membranes break and leak the cytoplasmic contents which trigger an immune response against these cells. The researchers say that the immume system can also detect and destroy the cancer cells dispersed in different parts of the body.

This could be a very useful technique if found useful in humans as both the primary and metastates can be treated. The existing thermal HIFU is for treatment of primary tumors.

“In most cancers, what actually ends up killing the patient is the spread of the cancer from its original site to other parts of the body. If the patient has a tumor in the kidney or liver, several treatment options – including surgery, radiation or HIFU – can be used to get rid of the cancerous tissues. However, if the cancer cells spread to other vital organs such as the lung or brain, the outcomes are often much worse,” said Pei Zhong, an associate professor in Duke’s mechanical engineering and materials science department.

It looks more like an iPod than a medical tool.

Thats how the media describes the new ultrasound device developed by the biomedical grad. student, George K. Lewis, from the Cornell University.

The device device easily fits into the pocket and it can send ultrasound waves deep into the required part of the muscle through a polystyrene pad, which is the transducer that converts electrical energy to sound waves. Lewis has partnered with physicians to start a clinical trial to demonstrate the pain relieving function of the device. The current trial will include patients with painful osteoarthritis.

Even though ultrasound is already an accepted tool to relieve mucle pain, the patient has to take treatment at the doctor’s or therapists office and quite frequently as osteoarthritis is often a chronic ailment. Using this new technique, the patient can take treatment at home or even at work, he just need to have the device in the pocket.

Lewis hopes that the device can be used for pain relief in all types of arthritis and eventually be developed for mucle healing and even drug devivery, but requires further cinical studies and FDA approval.