Tag Archives: musculoskeletal ultrasound

Hey, Ultrasound! What Did I Do Without You?

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I trained as a physiatrist, which means a great deal of education on musculoskeletal conditions. Over the course of my residency training, I became more and more comfortable with bony and soft tissue landmarks for examination and targeting various joints, nerves, and tendons for therapeutic injections. As I was supervised by attendings, and carefully followed their instructions, there was no doubt in my mind that the tip of my needle was at the target intended. Why would I doubt a common practice that has been in existence for several decades?Mostoufi

As I started my fellowship in spine/pain/musculoskeletal care, I found the love of my life, the fluoroscope!!  Here, I had access to a tool that made life incredibly easy. I actually could visualize my targeted hip, shoulder, or facet joint, and inject some contrast to identify the needle tip within my target. I could precisely deliver therapeutic medications to a particular nerve root, and even identify vascular uptake and avoid procedural complications.

It was then and there that I realized that there were substantial shortcomings in what I learned as “landmark-based injections”. I realized that even though I had learned the proper “blind” procedure technique, there was no confirmation that my medication had reached its intended target. More importantly, if my patient did not respond to the procedure, I could not differentiate between a medical condition that was not responsive to the treatment versus shortcomings of un-guided procedures and inadequate delivery of medications to the targeted tissue/joint. For 12 years, I confidently treated thousands of patients by performing spine and musculoskeletal injections using my fluoroscope. I enjoyed using my C-arm, and life was pretty good.

In 2011, while attending a PM&R national conference, I sat through a 15-minute presentation on overdiagnosis of trochanteric bursitis. The speaker eloquently described fluoroscopic-guided bursa injection. This was something that I did on a regular basis as a diagnostic step. He then used ultrasound (US) images to demonstrate a few cases of gluteus medius tendinopathy and also trochanteric bursitis and how US can be superior to X-ray in therapeutic sub-gluteus maximus bursa injection. While sitting and listening, I recognized that it was virtually impossible to press against the lateral trochanter and be accurate about the diagnosis. It is also not possible to use fluoroscopy and be sure that the steroid or regenerative treatments are correctly delivered to sub-gluteus maximus bursa.

Remembering how helpful fluoroscope was to identify particular bony landmarks and assist with the proper treatment of spine and joint disease, here I was discovering a new tool that can enhance diagnostic and therapeutic skills in musculoskeletal care in particular soft tissue disease (nerves, muscles, tendons). This meant a fundamental change in the way I was going to treat patients but also a change in how I train the next generations of Physiatrists, coming through our residency program.

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Learning to use the US, and incorporating it into the practice was much harder than I envisioned and also very expensive. At the time, there were limited well-structured educational resources available, and the learning curve was quite steep. As I was learning, I had to beg (or pay) my kids to become my scanning subjects!!

In contrast to a fluoroscope, it is nearly impossible to recognize an abnormal structure on the US unless you are comfortable with the normal anatomy. With a ton of hands-on workshops, mentorship, practice, and with assistance from my new found love of ultrasound machine, and guidelines from the AIUM, ultrasound has become easier and more enjoyable!! The abnormal findings became more clear and treatments more effective. In this process, I found out that patients enjoy looking at the US screen and being explained about finding on a screen full of gray, gray, and grayer lines and curves.

US has transformed how physiatrists practice and teach musculoskeletal medicine. Point-of-care US imaging allows for the residents and fellows to visualize various organs or structures within an organ, recognize healthy and diseased tissue, and diagnose the problem on the spot. This, in turn, will lead to a quick and targeted treatment and satisfied patients.

Examples of musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions that US has proven to be an effective tool to workup or treat includes rotator cuff and biceps tendinopathy, small or large joint injections, upper extremity nerve entrapments, muscle and tendon tears, peripheral nerve lesions, carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), intersection syndromes, trigger fingers, plantar fasciitis, piriformis and sciatic complaints, treatments of bursitis or tenosynovitis, iliotibial  (IT) band treatment, ischiofemoral impingement, and many diagnoses for which dynamic testing proves to be beneficial.

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Despite its cost and extensive training/certification needs, utilization of US in MSK care is predicted to be a standard of care in the next 5–10 years. As more and more practitioners are trained, its use for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes will become the norm.

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I still love my fluoroscope and prefer its use in most spine procedures. Adding US has revolutionized my practice and allows me to be a better diagnostician, a better MSK doctor and a better educator for both my patients as well as future providers that come after me. In short, US has been a game-changer.

 

Ali Mostoufi, MD, FAAPMR, FAAPM, is an Assistant Prof. in PM&R at Tufts University, and the president of New England Spine Care Associates (NeSpineCare.com) and Boston Regenerative Medicine (BostonRegen.com).  As a spine and sports medicine practitioner, his clinical practice focuses on Interventional Spine, Diagnostic US, US-based therapeutic interventions and Regenerative Medicine in spine and sports.

Interested in reading more about musculoskeletal ultrasound? Check out the following posts from the Scan:

 

Comment below, or, AIUM members, continue the conversation on Connect, the AIUM’s online community to share your experience.

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Ultrasound in Orthopedic Practice

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Point-of-care ultrasound brings great value to patient care in orthopedic practice, especially for soft tissue problems. It offers safe, cost-effective, and real-time evaluation for soft tissue pathologies and helps narrow down the differential diagnosis.Pic1

There are a variety of soft tissue lesions in orthopedic practice with a classic clinical presentation that may not necessitate ultrasound examination for confirmation of diagnosis, for example, ganglion cyst. However, there is value in performing an ultrasound scan for these common soft tissue lesions.

Ganglion cyst on the dorsum of the wrist or radial-volar aspect of the wrist are confirmed based on clinical examination and presentation. Adding ultrasound examination can help differentiate classic ganglion cyst from some rare findings like Lipoma, anomalous muscles, or soft tissue tumors. Ultrasound examination may also be helpful in finding the source of the ganglion cyst or the stalk of the ganglion cyst. This can help pre-surgical planning if resection of the ganglion cyst is desired by the patient and recommended by the surgeon, because arthroscopic or traditional surgical approach may be needed based on the location of the stalk or neck of the cyst.

Images 1 and 2 show examples of two different patients with a similar presentation of slow-growing mass on the digit. Image 1 from patient 1 shows a solid tumor overlying the flexor tendons of the digit, where the mass was palpated. Image 2 from patient 2, shows a cystic mass overlying the tendons of the digit. In both of the cases, masses were painless and slow growing with minimal to no discomfort. Ultrasound is a great tool in differentiating solid vs cystic lesions and can help avoid attempted aspiration of a solid mass when the mass is presented in an area of classic ganglion cyst’s usual presentation.

Another soft tissue problem, where ultrasound is a superior imaging tool is tendon pathology. Ultrasound can help differentiate tendinosis, tenosynovitis, or tendon tears.

In tenosynovitis, tendon by itself shows normal echotexture and uniform appearance but the tenosynovium that surrounds the tendon gets inflamed and appears as hypoechoic halo around the tendon, for example, in image 3, tendons of the first dorsal compartment of the wrist show uniform thickness and fibrillar echotexture, however there is hypoechoic swelling around the tendons, this is an example of tenosynovitis of first dorsal compartment of the wrist.

In tendinosis, tendon loses its fibrillar pattern and appears swollen and may show vascularity on color ultrasound, which is suggestive of neoangiogenesis or angiofibroblastic proliferation. For example, in Image 4, the tendons of the first dorsal compartment of the wrist show focal enlargement, hypoechoic swelling, and loss of normal fibrillar echotexture and tendon appears disorganized with evidence of increased vascularity on color ultrasound. This is an example of tendinopathy or tendinosis.

Focal tendon tears appear as anechoic or hypoechoic focal defects in tendon substance. Image 5 shows a partial tear of the triceps tendon from the olecranon process. The partial tear appears as a focal hypoechoic defect in the tendon, which is confirmed in the long and short axis scan of the tendon.

In full-thickness tears, the tendon is seen retracted proximally with no fiber attachment at the tendon footprint. Image 6 shows an example of a full thickness complete tear of the supraspinatus tendon from its bony attachment at the greater tubercle. The tendon has retracted proximally and the retracted stump is not visible on ultrasound examination.

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Point-of-care ultrasound adds significant value to clinical examination in an orthopedic setting. It enhances the understanding of a patient’s problem, increases confidence in the care provided, and high patient satisfaction is reported.

In what unexpected ways do you find ultrasound to be useful? Do you have additional tips for using ultrasound in orthopedics?  Comment below or let us know on Twitter: @AIUM_Ultrasound.

Mohini Rawat, DPT, MS, ECS, OCS, RMSK, is program director of Fellowship in Musculoskeletal Ultrasonography at Hands On Diagnostics and owner of Acumen Diagnostics. She is ABPTS Board-Certified in Clinical Electrophysiology; ABPTS Board-Certified in Orthopedics; registered in Musculoskeletal Sonography, APCA; and has an added Point-of-Care MSK Soft Tissue Clinical Certificate.