Medical Diagnostic Ultrasound Instrumentation and Clinical Interpretation
Report of the Ultrasonography Task Force
- Council on Scientific Affairs
Abstract
Over the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of ultrasonography as an imaging modality. The introduction of real-time ultrasonography and Doppler units for the measurement of blood flow in the 1970s, recent advances in transducer design, signal processing, and miniaturization of electronics, along with the lack of radiation exposure, have been primarily responsible for the increased use of ultrasound. However, although ultrasonography can provide diagnostic information safely and easily, interpretation of the information requires an understanding of the physics behind ultrasound, how that physics is translated into ultrasound instrumentation, recognition of artifacts that are associated with the various types of ultrasonography, and identification of these artifacts in specific anatomic locations.
(JAMA. 1991;265:1155-1159)
Footnotes
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This report was presented to the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association on June 24,1990, as an informational report of the Council on Scientific Affairs.
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This report is not intended to be construed or to serve as a standard of medical care. Standards of medical care are determined on the basis of all of the facts and circumstances involved in an individual case and are subject to change as scientific knowledge and technology advance and patterns of practice evolve. This report reflects the scientific literature as of March 1990.
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Reprint requests to Council on Scientific Affairs, Group on Science and Technology, American Medical Association, 515 N State St, Chicago, IL 60610 (William R. Hendee, PhD).
