METHOD: We searched relevant electronic databases, including PUBMED, MEDLINE, and SCOPUS, and performed a systematic review. Keywords used were "necrotizing fasciitis" or "necrotising fasciitis" or "necrotizing soft tissue infections" and "point-of-care ultrasonography" "ultrasonography" or "ultrasound". No temporal limitation was set. An additional search was performed via google scholar, and the top 100 entry was screened.
RESULTS: Among 540 papers screened, only 21 were related to diagnosing necrotizing fasciitis using ultrasonography. The outcome includes three observational studies, 16 case reports, and two case series, covering the period from 1976 to 2022.
CONCLUSION: Although the use of ultrasonography in diagnosing NF was published in several papers with promising results, more studies are required to investigate its diagnostic accuracy and potential to reduce time delay before surgical intervention, morbidity, and mortality.
AIMS: A variation of anisotropic diffusion is proposed that can reduce speckle noise without compromising the image quality of the edges and other important details.
METHODS: For this technique, four gradient thresholds were adopted instead of one. A new diffusivity function that preserves the edge of the resultant image is also proposed. To automatically terminate the iterative procedures, the Mean Absolute Error as its stopping criterion was implemented.
RESULTS: Numerical results obtained by simulations unanimously indicate that the proposed method outperforms conventional speckle reduction techniques. Nevertheless, this preliminary study has been conducted based on a small number of asymptomatic subjects.
CONCLUSION: Future work must investigate the feasibility of this method in a large cohort and its clinical validity through testing subjects with a symptomatic cartilage injury.
METHODS: A systematic search was carried out over the last 5 years from 2017 to 2022 on basis the following electronic databases: Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, Springer and PubMed. The keywords that used in the searching were: ultrasound, sonography, ultrasonography, plantar fasciitis, imaging of plantar fascia, physiotherapy of plantar fasciitis, interventional treatment of plantar fasciitis, randomized controlled trial of plantar fasciitis and interventional ultrasound. The review focused on the assessment of PF in patients with PFS underwent different interventions using B-mode, shear wave elastography (SWE) and color Doppler ultrasound.
RESULTS: During the search process, 1661 were recorded using the proper keywords from 2017 to 2022 in which 666 original articles were found after removing the review and duplicated articles. Of these, thirty articles met the inclusion criteria and included in this review. The articles have assessed the PF in patients with PFS under different conditions using different ultrasound modes. Twenty-six articles evaluated the effectiveness of different treatment on PF in patients with PFS using different ultrasound modes. In 8 of 26 articles, the ultrasound was used as both an assessment tool of PF and guide therapeutic technique in patients with PFS. In 18 articles, the ultrasound was used as only assessment tool to identify the PF thickness and its observation changes in patients with PFS. Four articles compared the PF thickness and its intrafascial changes between patients with PFS and healthy subjects.
CONCLUSION: The ultrasound can be a reliable tool in assessment the effect of different interventions on PF by evaluating its thickness, echogenicity and stiffness changes in patients with PFS. There were different methods and treatments were used among the studies.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this article is to review the microbubble compositions and physiochemical characteristics in relation to the development of innovative biomedical applications, with a focus on molecular imaging and targeted drug/gene delivery.
METHODS: The microbubbles are prepared by using various methods, which include cross-linking polymerization, emulsion solvent evaporation, atomization, and reconstitution. In cross-linking polymerization, a fine foam of the polymer is formed, which serves as a bubble coating agent and colloidal stabilizer, resulting from the vigorous stirring of a polymeric solution. In the case of emulsion solvent evaporation, there are two solutions utilized in the production of microbubbles. In atomization and reconstitution, porous spheres are created by atomising a surfactant solution into a hot gas. They are encapsulated in primary modifier gas. After the addition of the second gas or gas osmotic agent, the package is placed into a vial and sealed after reconstituting with sterile saline solution.
RESULTS: Microbubble-based drug delivery is an innovative approach in the field of drug delivery that utilizes microbubbles, which are tiny gas-filled bubbles, act as carriers for therapeutic agents. These microbubbles can be loaded with drugs, imaging agents, or genes and then guided to specific target sites.
CONCLUSION: The potential utility of microbubbles in biomedical applications is continually growing as novel formulations and methods. The versatility of microbubbles allows for customization, tailoring the delivery system to various medical applications, including cancer therapy, cardiovascular treatments, and gene therapy.
METHODS: A Total of 51 patients with 105 carotid artery plaques were screened using 3D and 2D US probes attached to the same US scanner. Two independent observers characterized the plaques based on the morphological features namely echotexture, echogenicity and surface characteristics. The scores assigned to each morphological feature were used to determine intra- and inter-observer performance. The level of agreement was measured using Kappa coefficient.
RESULTS: The first observer with 2D US showed fair (k=0.4-0.59) and very strong (k>0.8) with 3D US intra-observer agreements using three morphological features. The second observer indicated moderate strong (k=0.6-0.79) with 2D US and very strong with 3D US (k>0.8) intra-observer performances. Moderate strong (k=0.6-0.79) and very strong (k>0.8) inter-observer agreements were reported with 2D US and 3D US respectively. The results with 2D and 3D US were correlated 62% using only echotexture and 56% using surface morphology coupled with echogenicity. 3D US gave a lower score than 2D 71% of the time (p=0.005) in disagreement cases.
CONCLUSION: High reproducibility in carotid plaque characterization was obtained using 3D US rather than 2D US. Hence, it can be a preferred imaging modality in routine or follow up plaque screening of patients with carotid artery disease.
METHODS: In this prospective study, thyroid nodules were characterized by using the four TI-RADS systems and US-guided FNAC was done for nodule with the highest ACR TI-RADS score. Correlation between TI-RADS and FNAC results were analyzed.
RESULTS: Out of 244 thyroid nodules, 100 nodules with either size <1 cm (43 nodules) non-diagnostic or inconclusive FNAC results (57 nodules) were excluded. Seven nodules (4.9%) were confirmed to be malignant on FNAC. K TI-RADS showed 100% sensitivity and NPV but the lowest specificity (40.2%). EU TI-RADS had the highest specificity (83.2%) but the lowest sensitivity (57.1%) and NPV (97.4%). ACR TI-RADS had an average sensitivity (85.7%) and NPV (98.6%). The specificity of ACR TI-RADS (51.1%) was lower than EU TI-RADS but higher than K TI-RADS. AI TI-RADS showed higher specificity (61.8% vs 51.1%, p
SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 181 Thai children (90 boys and 91 girls) aged 6 to 12 years were recruited. Bone status was measured by two different techniques in terms of the speed of sound (SOS) using QUS and bone mineral density (BMD) using DXA. Calcium intake was assessed by 24 h diet recall. Pearson's correlation, κ-statistic and Bland and Altman analysis were used to assess the agreement between the methods.
RESULTS: There was no correlation between the two different techniques. Mean difference (s.d.) of the Z-scores of BMD and SOS was -0.61 (1.27) that was different from zero (P<0.05). Tertiles of Z-scores of BMD and QUS showed low agreement (κ 0.022, P=0.677) and the limits of agreement in Bland and Altman statistics were wide.
CONCLUSIONS: Although QUS is easy and convenient to use, the SOS measurements at the radius seem not appropriate for assessing bone quality status.
METHODS: This was a retrospective study of women seen at a tertiary urogynecological unit. All women had undergone a standardized interview, clinical examination including Modified Oxford Scale (MOS) grading, urodynamic testing and four-dimensional translabial ultrasound (TLUS). Cranioventral shift of the bladder neck (BN) and reduction in the hiatal anteroposterior (AP) diameter were measured using ultrasound volumes acquired on maximal PFM contraction, blinded against all clinical data.
RESULTS: Data from 726 women with a mean age of 56 ± 13.7 (range, 18-88) years and a mean body mass index of 29 ± 6.1 (range, 17-55) kg/m(2) were analyzed. Stress (SI) and urge (UI) urinary incontinence were reported by 73% and 72%, respectively, and 13% had AI. Mean MOS grade was 2.4 ± 1.1 (range, 0-5). Mean cranioventral BN shift on TLUS was 7.1 ± 4.4 (range, 0.3-25.3) mm; mean reduction in AP hiatal diameter was 8.6 ± 4.8 (range, 0.3-31.3) mm. On univariate analysis, neither MOS nor TLUS measures were strongly associated with symptoms of urinary incontinence or AI; associations were non-significant except for BN displacement/SI (7.3 mm vs 6.5 mm; P = 0.028), BN displacement/UI (6.85 vs 7.75; P = 0.019), hiatal AP diameter/AI (9.6 mm vs 8.5 mm; P = 0.047) and MOS/SI (2.42 vs 2.19; P = 0.013).
CONCLUSIONS: In this large retrospective study we did not find any strong associations between sonographic or palpatory measures of PFM function and symptoms of urinary incontinence or AI. Copyright © 2015 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.