The Minute: Volume 11 Issue 2 - Spring 2011

Ultrasounds’ Emerging Developments and International Expansion

Ultrasound has been a “go-to” imaging modality worldwide for decades thanks to its real-time imaging capabilities and relatively low equipment costs. However, these benefits are counter-balanced by the fact that real-time imaging through ultrasound requires highly skilled operators and lengthy training in order to perform more challenging examinations.

The capital costs associated with any medical imaging modality and the high operator skills required to perform ultrasound have historically been prohibitive for developing countries to adopt ultrasound. However, both the economic and technical barriers are slowly being lowered as the use of ultrasound continues to grow internationally in developing countries. This perspective is shared by Dr. Joseph Abuya as he describes his experiences with the emergence and use of ultrasound in Kenya in this editions of the Associate Corner.

Ultrasound has seen its share of innovations over the years and one of the newer and more promising trends is the use of bubble-based enhancement and therapies. These new techniques are offering exciting new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities as Professor Leandre Pourcelot, an early pioneer in ultrasound imaging in Europe, explains in this edition’s Interview of the Quarter.

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