ADVANCED ULTRASOUND IN DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY >
Clinical Application of Ultrasound Tomography in Diagnosis of Musculoskeletal Diseases
Received date: 2023-12-11
Accepted date: 2024-01-04
Online published: 2024-02-04
Objective To evaluate the feasibility and capability of UT in detecting musculoskeletal system lesions in the limbs and to explore its image quality.
Materials and Methods The Institutional Review Board has approved this prospective single-center study. This study included participants with various musculoskeletal and neurologic disorders in the limbs who provided written consent from October 2022 to April 2023. In addition to other radiological examinations (X-rays, CT, or MRI) and conventional handheld ultrasound scans requested by clinicians based on the conditions, each participant also underwent UT scanning using our developed limb ultrasound imaging system during the same period. Four radiologists and ultrasound physicians with more than five years of experience in musculoskeletal diagnostics analyzed the two-dimensional and three-dimensional images of the examination area.
Results Overall, 50 participants were evaluated (mean age, 36 years ± 18 [SD]; 26 males). The conditions included musculoskeletal tumors (n = 10), postoperative follow-up of musculoskeletal tumors (n = 20), peripheral nerve disorders in the limbs (n = 10) and postoperative pain in orthopedic surgery (n = 10). In all UT images, the region of interest was completely displayed, and internal structures such as muscles and nerves were clearly visible. Compared to conventional ultrasound images, the reconstructed three-dimensional images intuitively displayed the relationship between the lesions and surrounding tissues. Furthermore, UT did not exhibit metal artifacts when observing soft tissues around metallic implants, providing more comprehensive soft tissue information and more intuitive stereoscopic images.
Conclusion Clinical results of the UT system have demonstrated its feasibility as an automated and standardized imaging technique for musculoskeletal imaging, providing a new imaging modality for the diagnosis of musculoskeletal diseases in the human body.
Key words: Ultrasound tomography; Musculoskeletal imaging; Tumors; Arthroplasty; Neuropathy
Cong Wei, MD , Hui Zhang, PhD , Tao Ying, MD , Bing Hu, MD , Yini Chen, MD , Hongtao Li, MD , Qiude Zhang, PhD , Mingyue Ding, PhD , Jie Chen, MD , Ming Yuchi, PhD , Yuanyi Zheng, MD . Clinical Application of Ultrasound Tomography in Diagnosis of Musculoskeletal Diseases[J]. ADVANCED ULTRASOUND IN DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY, 2024 , 8(1) : 7 -14 . DOI: 10.37015/AUDT.2024.230060
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