Diagnostic ultrasound

The scope of ultrasound continues to increase very rapidly, especially with the recent introduction of stored grey scale displays and “real time” scanners. Scientific papers, conferences and books on the subject are also proliferating rapidly and the casual observer or busy radiologist can hope to capture but little knowledge of the more recent significant advances and concepts. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to review the recent literature on diagnostic ultrasound with emphasis on those aspects which the author considers to be most important, relevant or promising. Clearly such a wide ranging review will omit some aspects of the subject and give only passing reference to others but the main topics discussed are those which the average practitioner should find most relevant. For ease of reference these topics are grouped under a range of headings; thus the busy reader can avoid those sections which do not interest him. This speciality is the greatest consumer of ultrasound services. Since the early days of diagnostic ultrasound, measurement of the fetal biparietal diameter has been the commonest ultrasound investigation performed. The primary value of this measurement has been in the assessment of gestational age (Campbell and Newman, 1971) and fetal growth (Campbell, 1974). With a meticulous technique Campbell (1969) achieved a prediction of gestational age with an accuracy of ±8.4 days in 95% of patients.