RTUS Flashcards
MSK ultrasound characteristics
- MSK US high-frequency sound waves (1-17 MHz)
- Amplitude < 0.1 W/cm2
- Image soft tissues and bone * Identify pathology
- Guide real-time procedures
what can MSK ultrasound identify
- Tendons * Nerves * Ligaments * Joint capsules * Muscles * Bone
Common uses for MSK ultrasound by PT’s
- To help guide clinical decision making
- Documenting changes in clinical conditions
- Dynamic tissue differentiation
- Identification of when to progress exercises or
activity - Localization of specific targets for manual
interventions or physical agents - To guide needle placement
- Blood flow or inflammatory changes
Point of care ultrasound imaging by PTs can identify pathology and/or be procedural:
- Neuromuscular reeducation
- Obtaining real-time information about the activation of specific muscles
- Patient biofeedback
- Monitoring real-time changes in morphology and movement
can you bill for imagining?
- not as imaging CPT code
- can use biofeedback code
benefits of MSK US
- Ability to image in real-time = hands-on, dynamic,
fast - Interactive – allows feedback from patient
- Generally unaffected by metal artifacts
- No radiation to patient or provider
- Exam of contralateral limb for comparison
- High resolution
- Real-time guidance for interventional procedures
- Sono palpation
- Portable
- (Relatively) inexpensive
echo
an ultrasound beam returning to its source
what produces the sound wave
Traditional diagnostic ultrasound beam generated within the US probe by the piezoelectric effect:
* the production of a pressure wave when an
applied voltage deforms
a crystal element
array
refers to the alignment of the crystals
(linear vs curvilinear)
what transducer shows deeper images?
curvilinear
How do you get an image from a newer portable US
- they are digitally produced by a silicon chip containing a 2S array of capacitive micro machined US transducers
reflection at an interface …..
increases when the density difference between two tissues at an interface increases
echogenicity
Echogenicity of the tissue refers to the ability to reflect or transmit US waves in the context of surrounding tissues and shows up as the
amplitude / brightness of the image
hyperechoic
more echoic than surrounding tissue (white)
anechoic
absence of echoes
black
hypoechoic
less echogenic than surrounding tissue
gray
homogenous tissues…
- have fewer interfaces and so less reflection occurs
- they will appear as hypoechoic structures on the screen
(bladder full of homogenous fluid)
bone
- appears black or anechoic on an ultrasound image with a bright hyperechoic rim
- It is black because the US beam cannot penetrate bone and casts an acoustic shadow
blood vessels
- appear black
- have a distinct appearance on color Doppler mode
(red/blue color indicates direction of flow not arterial/venous)
Ansiotrophy
irregularity you see because of the way you hold the transducer (artifact)