ORIGINAL ARTICLE   Free access

Minerva Anestesiologica 2019 January;85(1):53-9

DOI: 10.23736/S0375-9393.18.12900-2

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Effect of ultrasound image enhancement software on the quality of vision of regional anesthesia needles

Alfredo ABAD-GURUMETA ¹, Rubén CASANS-FRANCÉS ² ✉, Enrique ROCA-CASTILLO ³, Javier RIPOLLÉS-MELCHOR ¹, José M. CALVO-VECINO ⁴

¹ Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Infanta Leonor University Hospital, Madrid, Spain; ² Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Therapy, Hospital Mutua de Accidentes de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain; ³ Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Hospital of Getafe, Getafe, Spain; ⁴ Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Therapy, University Assistance Complex of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to evaluate and compare the visualization of different types of needles with or without ultrasound image enhancement software, both in biological tissues and artificial models.
METHODS: This is an observational study on fresh porcine tissue and gelatin models. Six types of plexus needles were studied. The same anesthesiologist performed in-plane punctures with each needle at 30°, 40° and 50° in both 2D mode and using software-based enhanced mode without changing position, generating 72 images. The images were evaluated blind by 38 anesthesiologists with at least two years of experience in ultrasound and rated from 0 to 10. A univariate and multivariate analysis was performed to identify differences between the images according to needle, mode, angle and experimental model. We described the results as mean (standard deviation).
RESULTS: The Echoplex needle, 8.31 (1.94), was significantly better than the Sonoplex needle, 7.53 (2.16), P=0.0003, and both were significantly better than the other needles (P<0.0001). Significant differences were also found in favor of the gelatin model, 7.26 (2.48) vs. 6.24 (3.67), P<0.0001, and with ultrasound image enhancement software, 8.59 (1.55) vs. 4.91 (3.31), P<0.0001. These differences were confirmed by multivariate analysis.
CONCLUSIONS: Although there are differences between the different types of needles used with ultrasound visualization strategies, ultrasound image enhancement software provides good visualization, regardless of the model chosen.

KEY WORDS: Ultrasonography - Phantoms, imaging - Anesthesia