Ultrasound-assisted musculoskeletal procedures: A practical overview of current literature

Abstract

Traditionally performed by a small group of highly trained specialists, bedside sonographic procedures involving the musculoskeletal system are often delayed despite the critical need for timely diagnosis and treatment. Due to this limitation, a need evolved for more portability and accessibility to allow performance of emergent musculoskeletal procedures by adequately trained non-radiology personnel. The emergence of ultrasound-assisted bedside techniques and increased availability of portable sonography provided such an opportunity in select clinical scenarios. This review summarizes the current literature describing common ultrasound-based musculoskeletal procedures. In-depth discussion of each ultrasound procedure including pertinent technical details, indications and contraindications is provided. Despite the limited amount of prospective, randomized data in this area, a substantial body of observational and retrospective evidence suggests potential benefits from the use of musculoskeletal bedside sonography.

Clinician-performed ultrasound in hemodynamic and cardiac assessment: a synopsis of current indications and limitations

“…Point-of-care ultrasonography has since expanded to include procedural, diagnostic, and screening applications in a wide range of specialties [18][19][20][21][22][23]. Procedural guidance as in central line placement [24,25], diagnostic assessment as in the Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) [26][27][28], thoracic cavitary ultrasonography to assess for pleural effusion, pneumothorax, or pneumonia [29,30], verification of tracheal airway placement [18], musculoskeletal diagnosis and treatment [14], cardiovascular applications [11,12,31], and gynecological screening [32,33] are now all commonplace in the clinical arena. New applications of ultrasound are presently being explored in the realms of thermal tumor ablation, hemorrhage control, nanotechnology, fracture healing, and noncontact wound therapy [34][35][36][37][38][39].…”

“…Not surprisingly, hemodynamic assessment and volume status monitoring with ultrasound have gradually emerged as a leading method in the management of critically ill patients [6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. The attractiveness of ultrasound is primarily based on its non-invasiveness and versatility [13,14]. In this article, we review the most common applications of ultrasound in hemodynamic monitoring and provide a framework for its potential applications in the future.…”

Modern sonology and the bedside practitioner: evolution of ultrasound from curious novelty to essential clinical tool

“…For example, sonologists and proceduralists can claim substantial contributions in the areas of central [13] and peripheral [14] venous access, disaster triage [15], musculo-skeletal diagnosis and treatment [16,17], vascular diagnosis [18], intravascular volume status assessment [19], cardiovascular assessment [20,21], tracheal airway placement verification [2], ophthalmologic and neurologic applications [22][23][24][25], diagnosis of cholecystitis [26,27], appendicitis [28], and abdominal solid organ abnormalities [29][30][31][32], obstetric and gynecologic applications [33,34], and percutaneous drainage of fluid collections [35,36], among many other clinical uses [37][38][39][40][41].…”

Evaluation of Achilles Tendon Injuries with Findings from Diagnostic Musculoskeletal Ultrasound in Canines – 43 Cases

“…Degenerative injuries may also be secondary to other causes such as systemic disease (Spinella et al, 2010) Ultrasound evaluation has become a valuable and practical tool in assessing the Achilles tendon. It is used frequently in human medicine for diagnostic evaluation and grading of Achilles tendon injuries (Griffith, 2014;Luscombe et al, 2003;Henderson et al, 2015;Royall, 2011;Maffulli et al, 2004). Another advantage of musculoskeletal ultrasound is the possibility to use the contralateral limb as a comparison to evaluate symmetry of the tendon.…”