Abstract
Delivering unexpected news to pregnant women and their attending family: is sonographer training adequate? A narrative review
English K, Spurway J, Quinton A, et al. Sonography 2023; 10: 15–23.
A nice reminder of the need to deliver unexpected news with empathy and a review of the literature surrounding this topic. Teaching student sonographers at the beginning of their career and the need for continued training throughout to prevent burn out and improve patient care is highlighted.
Long-term follow-up of non-enhancing renal masses on CEUS
Barr RG, Cestone A, Peterson C, et al. J Ultrasound Med 2023; 42: 963–968.
A retrospective study following 405 patients who had undergone CEUS (contrast-enhanced ultrasound) for an indeterminate renal mass found on other imaging. A large proportion were followed up over 5 years with some followed up to a period of 10 years. The authors concluded that a non-enhancing renal mass using CEUS is benign and no follow-up is needed.
Multiparametric ultrasound in testicular emergencies: state-of-the-art
Paparella MT, Eusebi L, Pagliara MP, et al. Curr Radiol Rep. Epub ahead of print 24 May 2023. DOI: 10.1007/s40134-023-00415-2.
A nice pictorial review for the student sonographer to show the ultrasound appearances of the normal testes and pathologies commonly seen in testicular emergencies.
Cross-disciplinary prevalence and associated factors for work-related discomfort in users of ultrasonography: implications for sonography professionals and health care administrators
Roll SC, Fukumura YE, Sommerich CM, et al. J Diagn Med Sonograph. Epub ahead of print 23 May 2023. DOI: 10.1177/87564793231170016.
In this survey of ultrasound practitioners, over half (54.2%) had received ergonomic training, within the last 6 years, which the majority had found useful and were able to utilise in their ultrasound practice. Responses were gathered from 3659 ultrasound practitioners, and 86% experienced pain due to scanning, 40% had headaches and visual discomfort. Protective aspects mentioned were the availability of adjustable equipment, regular breaks and having a good work culture within a well organised department. Scanning without interruption was also important.
Development and clinical validation of real-time artificial intelligence diagnostic companion for fetal ultrasound examination
Stirnemann JJ, Besson R, Spaggiarl E, et al. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. Epub ahead of print 9 May 2023. DOI: 10.1002/UOG.26242.
The development of software to assist the ultrasound practitioner when a fetal anomaly is found, by prompting them to look for other associated anomalies in syndromic cases. The software would help with education as a reminder and with identification of a syndrome when multiple anomalies are found. It is unclear from the write up, if the software is in the ultrasound equipment or on an accompanying laptop/PC.
A proposed framework for point of care musculoskeletal ultrasound and ultrasound image-guided interventions by physiotherapists: scope of practice, education and governance
Smith M, Innes S, Wildman S, et al. Ultrasound J 2023; 15: 15.
A comprehensive document to help physiotherapists, clinicians and departments in all aspects of providing a musculoskeletal ultrasound service. I particularly liked the setting expectations section.
Heterogeneous liver on research ultrasound identifies children with cystic fibrosis at high risk of advanced liver disease
Siegel MJ, Leung DH, Molleston JP, et al. J Cyst Fibros. Epub ahead of print 7 April 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcf.2023.03.019.
A multicenter study assessing the livers of children with cystic fibrosis, to see whether the ultrasound could predict cirrhosis. There are a number of acronyms used in this article, which you need to be familiar with to help progress through it. The main ones are HTG for heterogeneous liver, aCFLD for advanced cystic fibrosis liver disease and NOD for nodular liver pattern on ultrasound. The study took place over a 6-year period, and ultrasound scans were performed every other year. It found that 33% of patients with a heterogeneous liver on the first scan went on to develop a nodular liver within the research period, whereas only 3.4% of patients with a normal liver at the start developed a nodular liver within the 6 years.
Prevalence of deep and ovarian endometriosis in women attending a general gynecology clinic: prospective cohort study
Chaggar P, Tellum T, Thanatsis N, et al. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2023; 61: 632–641.
A prospective single-centre study to look for the incidence of endometriosis in women. All women who attended for an ultrasound were assessed for signs of endometriosis using the International Deep Endometriosis Analysis (IDEA) systematic approach to examine the pelvis. The presence and location of any endometriomas and endometriotic nodules were recorded. About 18.9% (194/1026) women were found to have endometriosis, a higher figure than the usual 10% that is quoted. The most usual place for endometriotic nodules to be situated was in the retrocervical region (47.7%).
Investigation into the genetics of fetal congenital lymphatic anomalies
Rogerson D, Alkelai A, Giordano J, et al. Prenat Diagn 2023; 43: 703–716.
Data from a whole-exome sequencing (WES) research study was examined to look for any congenital lymphatic anomalies. These were then divided into two groups, cases affected with clinically significant fetal oedema (CSFE) and isolated fetal oedema (IFE). CSFE cases were those that needed some intervention antenatally, or the oedema was present postnatally, whereas IFE resolved during the antenatal period. There were 29 CSFE cases and 42 IFE cases within the study data. Pathogenic variants were found in 17% of CSFE cases; these included four genes that are frequently present with lymphatic anomalies (RASopathy genes), found in Noonan syndrome, for example. Limitations of the study are low numbers and not all gene sequences were tested for. There were more poor outcomes in the CSFE cases, so early identification of lymphatic anomalies is useful to help identify the cause.
Perinatal outcomes of monochorionic triplet pregnancies: multicenter cohort study
Sileo FG, Accurti V, Baschat A, et al. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. Epub ahead of print 19 May 2023. DOI: 10.1002/uog.26256.
Although a rare occurrence, this retrospective study followed triplet pregnancies to record what the outcomes were. A total of 174 triplet pregnancies took place during the study period (2007 onwards) at 21 centres, and 153 pregnancies were followed up. Structural anomalies occurred in 13.7% of the pregnancies, and 42 pregnancies (27.6%) were affected by TTTS (twin to twin transfusion syndrome). Second trimester miscarriage occurred in 12.4%, highlighting the importance of counselling and monitoring of this high-risk pregnancy group.