Of course you need an abdominal probe! Yes, a modern CT gives great
information, but it is still horribly slow. It may do the scan quicker,
but there is still the process of waiting for the anesthetist to put the
7th line in, getting the patient on and off the scanner, and getting
someone to look at it with you. And joy of joys, I don't have to ask
permission to do a FAST scan!
We have a little Sonosite Titan and we are so pleased with it we are
bidding for a second machine; probably a Micromaxx.
> *From:* "Dunn Matthew Dr. (RJC) A & E - SwarkHosp-TR"
> <[log in to unmask]>
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Date:* Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:20:18 +0100
>
> We've got a Sonosite 180 with a 25 mm curved array and a 37 mm
> linear array transducer which does the job OK (if I was doing it
> from scratch today I'd get a shorter "hockey stick" linear array).
> I'd be surprised if you could get an A and E machine these days
> that wasn't portable on a cart, had colourlow and could store and
> print (possibly with the need to download to a computer first).
> These days I would question whether you need an abdominal
> transducer: with 64 slice CTs close to EDs, there is more of a case
> for a CT scan (even without contrast it will tell you everything a
> FAST will tell you and more besides). Limited Cardiac Ultrasound is
> more useful and is my main use of the curved array transducer. A
> 25mm curved array probe will do this and will also be adequate for
> abdominal ultrasound (depending on the machine). The other thing
> you might want to think about is musculoskeletal ultrasound and
> nerve blocks. For this you want a high frequency linear array
> transducer (although depending on how much money you've got you
> might want to use a dedicated machine for this).
>
> Matt Dunn
>
/Rowley./
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