A randomised experiment comparing low-cost ultrasound gel alternative with commercial gel
| Autor: | Farhad Sani, Mike Butterfield, Christine Riguzzi, Allison Binkowski, Nathan A. Teismann, Jahan Fahimi |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male medicine.medical_specialty Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine California 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Medicine Humans 030212 general & internal medicine Emergency physician Ultrasonography Cross-Over Studies business.industry Ultrasound 030208 emergency & critical care medicine Starch General Medicine Middle Aged Surgery Point-of-Care Testing Emergency Medicine Female business Emergency Service Hospital Gels Biomedical engineering |
| Zdroj: | Emergency medicine journal : EMJ. 34(4) |
| ISSN: | 1472-0213 |
| Popis: | Objective Point-of-care ultrasound is a portable, relatively low-cost imaging modality with great potential utility in low-resource settings. However, commercially produced ultrasound gel is often cost-prohibitive and unavailable. We investigated whether images obtained using an alternative cornstarch-based gel would be of comparable quality with those using commercial gel. Methods This was a blinded, randomised, cross-over study comparing commercially produced ultrasound gel with home-made cornstarch-based gel. Ultrasound-trained faculty obtained three video clips with each gel type from patients at one urban ED. The clips were evaluated by a radiologist and an ultrasound-trained emergency physician. Images were assessed in terms of overall adequacy (dichotomous) and quality, resolution and detail using a rating scale (0–10). All sonographers and physicians reviewing the images were blinded to the type of gel used. Results Thirty-four patients were enrolled in the study, producing 204 separate images (102 with each gel). The cornstarch gel clips were deemed accurate in 70.6% (95% CI 63.9% to 76.5%) of the scans, as compared with 65.2% (95% CI 58.4% to 71.4%) of those using commercial gel. There was no difference between the two groups with respect to image detail, resolution or quality. Conclusions Images produced using the cornstarch-based alternative ultrasound gel were of similar quality to those using commercial gel. The low cost and easy preparation of the cornstarch-based gel make it an attractive coupling medium for use in low-resource settings. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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