Abstract
The key for safe ultrasound (US)-guided punctures is a good visibility of the cannula. When using convex transducers for deep punctures, the incident angle between US beam and cannula varies along the cannula leading to a complex visibility pattern. Here, we present a method to systematically investigate the visibility throughout the US image. For this, different objective criteria were defined and applied to measurement series with varying puncture angles and depths of the cannula. It is shown that the visibility not only depends on the puncture angle but also on the location of the cannula in the US image when using convex transducers. In some image regions, an unexpected good visibility was observed even for steep puncture angles. The systematic evaluation of the cannula visibility is of fundamental interest to sensitise physicians to the handling of convex transducers and to evaluate new techniques for further improvement.
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the contribution of our medical partner Dr. Tim Mäcken (Bergmannsheil – University Hospital Bochum, Germany) who advised us on this topic by sharing his observations. We further acknowledge the support by Thomas Lüppertz (BK Ultrasound, Denmark), who provided the Flex Focus 800 Ultrasound system and the transducer.
Author Statement
Research funding: Authors state no funding involved.
Conflict of interest: Authors state no conflict of interest.
Informed consent: Informed consent is not applicable.
Ethical approval: The conducted research is not related to either human or animal use.
References
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