Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography

This scoping review aimed to summarize the cardiopulmonary implications of long COVID in young adults (ages 18-25) utilizing lung and cardiac sonography to identify subclinical abnormalities.

A comprehensive literature search was conducted across six databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, and Web of Science) from 2020 to August 2024, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Extension for Scoping Review (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. The search strategy included terms related to “echocardiography,” “ultrasonography,” and “post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.” Studies were screened using Covidence software, focusing on young adults with confirmed COVID-19 who underwent sonographic evaluation in the post-acute phase. Of 583 articles identified, six met the inclusion criteria.

Included studies varied in design, comprising case series and prospective observational studies. Pulmonary findings include ventilatory inefficiency in athletes despite preserved exercise capacity, and pleural thickening and fragmentation were present. Echocardiographic evaluations showed constriction-like features, impaired left atrial strain, and reduced global longitudinal strain, in individuals with mild infections.

Sonography can play a crucial role in identifying subclinical abnormalities in young individuals with long COVID. These findings underscore the need for routine imaging assessments to guide clinical management and inform rehabilitation strategies. Longitudinal studies are warranted to establish standardized imaging protocols and to better understand the long-term implications of COVID-19.

To compare the detection capability and reported diagnostic indicators of Doppler ultrasonography (DUS) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to detect neovascularisation in Achilles tendinopathy, as well as assess the diagnostic relevance in relation to symptoms and treatment outcomes.

A systematic literature search was conducted using the EBSCO host databases for studies published between 2004 and 2024, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Studies involving adults with Achilles tendinopathy assessed with DUS and/or CEUS were included. Data extraction was performed using a structured form, and study quality was evaluated using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool. Due to methodological heterogeneity, a narrative synthesis was executed.

Eight studies met the inclusion criteria, all using DUS, with two additionally incorporating CEUS. The CEUS appeared to demonstrate greater detection capability for microvascular flow compared to DUS, particularly in complex clinical cases. The DUS remained more accessible and clinically feasible. Evidence linking neovascularisation with symptom severity was inconsistent, although some studies reported vascular changes following treatment.

Both DUS and CEUS have been shown to detect neovascularisation in Achilles tendinopathy. Based on published evidence, CEUS provides enhanced microvascular assessment, while DUS remains a practical primary diagnostic tool. The diagnostic role of neovascularisation as a clinical biomarker remains uncertain.

To explore the psychological impact, coping strategies, and healthcare experiences of African women undergoing a sonographic diagnosis of uterine fibroids, guided by the Lazarus Stress and Coping Theory and the Engel Biopsychosocial Model.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 Nigerian women aged 26 to 50 years, purposively recruited from public and private patient waiting rooms (e.g., 6 awaiting initial diagnosis; 14 in surveillance). Data were analyzed inductively using reflexive thematic analysis.

Three themes captured women’s experiences. (1) Psychological distress and threat appraisal: anxiety, fear, reduced self-esteem, and fertility concerns, most acute during initial diagnosis. (2) Adjustment and coping strategies: reliance on religious belief, family/partner support, lifestyle modifications, and complementary therapies, with ambivalence toward surgical treatment largely driven by concerns about potential effects on infertility. (3) Healthcare encounters and information gaps: inconsistent communication and counseling that led women to rely on informal sources of information.

A diagnosis of uterine leiomyomas can be marked by substantial emotional burden, influenced by cultural beliefs, fertility expectations, and variable healthcare communication.

This retrospective study using a causal-comparative design addressed the question: Can clusters of prenatally detected defects be identified, based on a sample of fetal sonographic reports, for maternal patients that reside in rural and urban regions across five counties in the San Joaquin Valley of California?

The fetal defects were identified by advanced perinatology sonography students and graduates who retrospectively reviewed a purposeful sample of 8667 obstetrical sonographic or fetal echocardiographic reports between October 30, 2024, and April 30, 2025. The reports were based on those maternal patients who were examined and resided in the counties of Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced, and Tulare, California.

A total of 414 structural fetal defects (e.g., cardiac, ventral, cerebral/central nervous system (CNS), skeletal, renal, growth restriction, masses/tumors) were reported. Based on the record review, fetal cardiac abnormalities were the most frequently identified (229/414, 55.3%). Chromosomal (57/327, 17.4%) and multiple fetal abnormalities (89/395, 22.5%) were also commonly reported. The standardized incidence ratio of fetal defects in the sampled region of the San Joaquin Valley (414/8667, 4.8%) was greater than the national average incidence rate of birth defects (3.0%). The approximate prevalence rates of fetal defects in the populations of the San Joaquin Valley (2.0% in urban regions and 6.3% in rural regions) were greater than the global prevalence rate of congenital birth defects (1.57%).

Clusters of fetal defects were identified, specifically in the urban regions of Fresno and Tulare counties. Further research is recommended to evaluate the effects of multiple potential factors (e.g., maternal age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, delays in detection, environmental exposure to agricultural/industrial chemicals, contaminated water or air, and drug abuse) to explain this cohort of fetal defects that developed in the San Joaquin Valley.

Fetal sonography is a cornerstone of prenatal care, enabling noninvasive monitoring of fetal growth and early detection of congenital anomalies. Despite its clinical value, its effectiveness can be limited by operator dependency, subjective interpretation, and variability in image quality. To address these issues, researchers have suggested using deep learning (DL) models as a maneuver to assist sonographers.

A search of the current literature was conducted using PubMed, IEEE Xplore, SpringerLink, and Scopus, to create a targeted and current review on the use of DL in obstetric sonography. These platforms are renowned for their high-quality, peer-reviewed publications in both medical imaging and artificial intelligence. The timeframe is selected between 2019 and May 2025, which aligned with the period that DL experienced rapid expansion, into clinical applications.

The systematic review found that DL has numerous therapeutic uses in prenatal imaging, including classifying aberrant and normal anatomy and measuring fetal biometry. This review consolidated recent developments in the application of DL such as classification, segmentation, and automation in obstetric processes.

Deep learning has a great potential to guide future diagnostic directions for sonographers, clinicians, and researchers involved in fetal sonography.

Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) is a useful diagnostic tool for cardiologists. Despite its widespread use, studies addressing safety concerns are limited. The aim was to evaluate the safety profile of TEEs at the host institution and decide whether postprocedural EGD (esophagogastroduodenoscopy) was necessary to assess possible patient injury.

This was a single-center, retrospective study of patients who underwent TEE in both inpatient and outpatient settings in a community hospital in New York. Data was collected on all adult patient visits from January 1, 2019, to May 30, 2024. Incidence of injury was calculated based on information from procedural reports and documentation in the health systems’ electronic medical record (EMR).

A total of 441 patients were included in this study. Only one patient (0.23%) had significant complications associated with TEE (i.e., esophageal perforation). The complication rate, based on this review, for the host hospital appeared lower than the rate of gastrointestinal complications seen in other studies (e.g., 0.51%).

This study demonstrated this hospital’s relative safety of performing TEE, due to the low rate of complications. While some health centers may perform postprocedural endoscopies to assess injury, it may be important for labs to replicate this type of review and confirm the overall safety of their performance of TEEs. This has the potential to negate further endoscopic evaluation for injury is not warranted unless clinical signs raising suspicion of injury manifest.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative tool in ultrasound imaging enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of carotid plaque characterization. In addition, AI-driven models facilitate automated analysis reducing interobserver variability and enhancing reproducibility in plaque assessment.

A systematic review process is outlined that provides an observational study curated from the available results from 1165 unique studies and were screened based on their titles and abstracts.

This review is based on 11 studies that satisfied all eligibility requirements and were included in the final review synthesis. The summative results highlighted the current state-of-the-art applications of AI in sonography, as well as providing early detection and risk stratification of carotid atherosclerotic plaques. The review also addressed emerging technologies, limitations, and future directions in AI-driven vascular imaging.

With continued advancements, AI has the potential to revolutionize carotid sonography, enabling early intervention and reducing the global burden of stroke and cardiovascular diseases.

It is unknown whether novice point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) users can interpret a lung sonogram (LS) for the presence of pulmonary edema. The aim was to evaluate novice POCUS users’ ability to differentiate between A- and B-line artifacts that could indicate pathology on a LS.

A survey featuring 40 LS videos taken from an emergency medicine department’s sample of patients that contained either normal lungs or pulmonary edema and those were distributed to POCUS experts and novice POCUS users. Responses were analyzed for primary outcomes of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity, compared with the diagnostic gold standard and inter-rater agreement within groups.

Twenty-five novice POCUS users and 25 expert surveys were included in analysis. Compared with the diagnostic gold standard, novices yielded a sensitivity of 86.8% and a specificity of 81.8%. Experts yielded a sensitivity of 98.4 and a specificity of 99.2. There was a significant difference between experts and novices for median accuracy 90% versus 100% (p < .001). Fleiss’ kappa revealed a near-perfect agreement in the expert group and moderate agreement in the novice POCUS users’ group.

In this study, the POCUS experts’ interpretation of LS findings was more accurate than that of the novices for the presence or absence of B-lines, although both groups performed well. The high performance of this group of novice POCUS users rivaled previously published results. This would suggest that it may be feasible for novice POCUS users to provide some level of LS interpretation.

This quasi-experimental study investigated whether acupuncture would reduce median nerve cross-sectional area (CSA) in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) patients, assessed by ultrasonography, and compared findings with nerve conduction velocity (NCV) for diagnostic concordance.

This cohort study was conducted in a teaching hospital in Iran, where 16 patients were evaluated for CTS and acupuncture treatment for CTS. The cohort provided 26 affected wrists (e.g., six unilateral and ten bilateral) and the patients were aged 24–63 years. This group was compared with a comparison group of 12 patients (e.g., 12 wrists) who did not receive acupuncture treatment. The diagnosis of CTS was confirmed by both clinical symptoms and NCV testing results. Sonography was used to evaluate the carpal tunnel (proximal, inlet, and outlet), pre- and post-treatment of ten acupuncture sessions. Patients were further grouped by NCV severity (e.g., mild: n = 10, moderate: n = 7, severe: n = 9). The Wilcoxon test was used to compare CSA changes, and McNemar’s tests assessed color Doppler shifts. Due to potential correlation within bilateral cases, a sensitivity analysis was performed on a subset of 16 independent wrists.

The series of acupuncture treatments significantly reduced CSA in the treatment group (p < .001) across all regions, unlike the comparison group (p > .05). Reduction in nerve swelling was noted for mild cases at the proximal/inlet site, the moderate cases across all regional sites, and severe cases at the inlet/outlet. A sensitivity analysis of 16 independent wrists confirmed the primary diagnostic findings (p < .01). Color Doppler indication of nerve inflammation decreased from 14/20 to 6/20 (p = .01). The NCV testing demonstrated a reduction in severity for the treatment group (p < .001). The treatment group’s responses to the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire improved from a mean of 3.2 ± SD 0.8 to 2.1 ± SE 0.6 (p = .01).

In this cohort, acupuncture reduced median nerve CSA and improved CTS outcomes, particularly for those who had mild/moderate CTS. In this study, sonography aligned with NCV for monitoring CTS, however, long-term surveillance is recommended.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections remain major global health challenges. Rwanda faces a disproportionately high HCV burden, with a prevalence of 6.7%, nearly ten times the global average of 0.7%, while HBV prevalence stands at 2.1%. Therefore, the aim was to identify sonographic liver patterns among hepatitis B and C patients and assess their association with sociodemographic factors.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 240 patients with viral hepatitis (120 HBV and 120 HCV). Sonographic findings were analyzed for associations with type of hepatitis and demographic variables using Fisher’s exact test and chi-square analysis.

The 240 participants had a mean age of 52.7 ± 17.9 years, and 57.1% were male. The most frequent liver sonographic findings were patterns of chronic liver alteration, which was suggestive of fibrosis (21.7%), fatty liver (8.8%), liver size abnormalities (14.6%), and suspicious nodules (5.0%). Fibrotic patterns were more commonly associated with HCV compared with HBV (14.2% vs 7.5%, p = .010), with HCV showing nearly double the cirrhosis rate (6.7 vs 3.3%). Fibrotic patterns were strongly associated with older age (p < .001) and being female (p = .014).

Sonography revealed distinct liver morphological changes among hepatitis B and C patients, more frequent in HCV, older participants, and females, suggesting differences in infection duration or health care-seeking behavior. Sonography can be a practical diagnostic tool for identifying and monitoring liver changes in resource-limited practice setting.