5 ms·

Seems worth mentioning that incorrectly used an ultrasound can burn bones. (Specific frequencies in bony areas moved too slowly). I didn't do enough research t

by cpfohl 8y ago

Seems worth mentioning that incorrectly used an ultrasound can burn bones. (Specific frequencies in bony areas moved too slowly). I didn't do enough research to understand this (but just enough to verify it). I learned it initially from my wife who's an NP. When I mentioned a previous DIY ultrasound article to her she looked skeptical and mentioned the risk of bone burns.

carbocation 8y ago
I have never heard of this being an issue for diagnostic ultrasound. Since I’m trained in (cardiac) ultrasonography, I think this would have come up... I also did a brief lit search and didn’t identify any obvious examples. I suspect your wife is referring to therapeutic ultrasound, which can damage bone [1]. But this is not the ultrasound people are getting of their heart, abdomen, or pelvis in general. 1 = https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11731056/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11731056/
- bencollier49 8y ago
  Even diagnostic ultrasound has been implicated in foetal brain damage (through cavitation). And ultrasound operators are known to often suffer from damage in their dominant hand. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.7863/jum.2009.28.2.139 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.7863/jum.2009.28...
  - modeless 8y ago
    > ultrasound operators are known to often suffer from damage in their dominant hand. Do you have a citation for this? I don't see anything about it in your link.
    - bencollier49 8y ago
      The comment from memory, but I found this paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8066232 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8066232
- lostlogin 8y ago
  US Bio effects of diagnostic US are discussed at (painful) length in undergraduate radiography training here in New Zealand. We are fairly well aligned with the UK in our training pathway but in my (limited) experience echo techs don’t seem to come from a radiography background while ultrasound ones do. Could be a local situation though. Broadly, the priciples seem to be ALARM and perhaps don’t do ‘souvenir’ scanning of foetuses. I wonder if anywhere follows that.
  - carbocation 8y ago
    Good point, my training excludes fetal ultrasound, so this might be one reason yours and mine differ.
  - prueba3 8y ago
    Interesting
- cpfohl 8y ago
  See! I learned something new today! :D
agumonkey 8y ago
funny, while trying to learn more about that, I find this https://www.verywell.com/ultrasound-for-faster-bone-healing-2549333 https://www.verywell.com/ultrasound-for-faster-bone-healing-... :)

by cpfohl 8y ago

carbocation 8y ago

I have never heard of this being an issue for diagnostic ultrasound. Since I’m trained in (cardiac) ultrasonography, I think this would have come up... I also did a brief lit search and didn’t identify any obvious examples. I suspect your wife is referring to therapeutic ultrasound, which can damage bone [1]. But this is not the ultrasound people are getting of their heart, abdomen, or pelvis in general. 1 = https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11731056/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11731056/

bencollier49 8y ago
Even diagnostic ultrasound has been implicated in foetal brain damage (through cavitation). And ultrasound operators are known to often suffer from damage in their dominant hand. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.7863/jum.2009.28.2.139 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.7863/jum.2009.28...
- modeless 8y ago
  > ultrasound operators are known to often suffer from damage in their dominant hand. Do you have a citation for this? I don't see anything about it in your link.
  - bencollier49 8y ago
    The comment from memory, but I found this paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8066232 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8066232
lostlogin 8y ago
US Bio effects of diagnostic US are discussed at (painful) length in undergraduate radiography training here in New Zealand. We are fairly well aligned with the UK in our training pathway but in my (limited) experience echo techs don’t seem to come from a radiography background while ultrasound ones do. Could be a local situation though. Broadly, the priciples seem to be ALARM and perhaps don’t do ‘souvenir’ scanning of foetuses. I wonder if anywhere follows that.
- carbocation 8y ago
  Good point, my training excludes fetal ultrasound, so this might be one reason yours and mine differ.
- prueba3 8y ago
  Interesting
cpfohl 8y ago
See! I learned something new today! :D

agumonkey 8y ago

funny, while trying to learn more about that, I find this https://www.verywell.com/ultrasound-for-faster-bone-healing-2549333 https://www.verywell.com/ultrasound-for-faster-bone-healing-... :)