Ultrasound guided therapeutic catheters: recent developments and clinical results

Abstract

The increasing use of intravascular ultrasound technology by clinicians is providing detailed and immediate information about the results of interventions, and this is stimulating the development of new catheters that use ultrasound imaging to control therapy in real time. Cold and thermal balloon angioplasty, atherectomy, embolectomy, laser ablation and rotational recanalization are a few of the interesting capabilities now being added to ultrasound catheters. We report on the development and characteristics of some of these devices and attempt to assess their potential to precisely direct therapy.

An apparent diatreme source for gem corundums and zircons, Gloucester River, New South Wales

“…The Gloucester River rises some 10km west of the AuK sites (Figure 1), among remnant basalt cappings and gem-sites on the Late Palaeozoic granodiorite-intruded basement massif exposed on Gloucester Tops at elevations around 1300m asl (Roberts et al 1991, Sutherland andGraham 2003). Some confusing differences exist in the drainage nomenclature at the AuK sites, with Watsons Creek and Oaky Creek as designated in the Stockdale exploration reports (MacNevin 1977) being renamed as Oaky Gully and Flaggy Creek respectively in the later Dungog 1:100,000 maps (Roberts et al 1991).…”