What are the advantages of musculoskeletal ultrasound?

Musculoskeletal ultrasound is a technology that, through the emission of ultrasound, allows us to obtain instant images of the inside of our body, and in particular, detailed images of structures such as muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves and bones.

Although ultrasound has been used in medical practice for decades, the use of this technology in the orthopedic surgeon’s office has only begun to be applied in recent years. Ultrasound provides the orthopedic surgeon with direct information about the patient’s injury that he did not have access to in the office until now.

This changes the concept of consultation as it was known until now, since it allows us to go deeper and better into the patient’s problem, obtain images of the lesion at the moment and confirm or discover a diagnosis in most cases from the first consultation; which allows us to immediately apply the most appropriate treatment for each lesion.

These possibilities opened up by ultrasound, together with its advantages over other diagnostic tests, mean that the use of this technology is becoming more widespread in orthopedic practices in our environment, as has already occurred in countries such as the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Advantages of musculoskeletal ultrasound

Some of the advantages offered by this test, which benefit both the orthopedic surgeon and, above all, the patient, are as follows:

Ultrasonography is a harmless test for the patient and, unlike simple radiography, CT or MRI, it does not entail any risk for any patient to whom it is performed.

Having an ultrasound machine in the orthopedic office allows a diagnostic test to be performed at the same time as the consultation and, after acquiring a certain amount of experience, does not excessively delay the duration of the consultation. This results in greater efficiency and optimization of time, resources and the medical act for both the specialist and the patient.

The performance of an ultrasound scan provides additional information on the patient’s problem in practically all the cases we see in the orthopedic surgery office. In many patients, ultrasound alone is sufficient to make an accurate diagnosis and even more complete than that achievable with an MRI or CT scan, as in the case of shoulder, tendon or muscle injuries. In the rest of the patients, ultrasound gives us clues and indirect information that guide us towards the diagnosis and that we should confirm with another diagnostic test, as in cases of sciatica due to disc herniation in the lumbar spine or ruptures of the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee. It should be pointed out that advances in musculoskeletal ultrasound are constantly evolving and the applications of this technique are expanding every year, so it has not yet reached its maximum development.

Ultrasound is much cheaper, in relation to the information it provides, than any other diagnostic technique. This lower cost allows the patient to obtain a better diagnosis at a much lower cost than if a different test were performed.

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The fact that the same orthopedic surgeon who is trying to analyze a patient’s problem can use ultrasound to explore the region or structure in which he suspects there is a lesion, makes this test more effective both in terms of results and optimization of resources. This increases the patient’s chances of obtaining an answer as to where the origin of the problem lies and thus being able to apply the ideal treatment to solve it.

Ultrasound is the only technique that allows a dynamic study of the structures to be explored. This provides very useful information as it allows to analyze a structure of the body in operation, which sometimes gives the key to the diagnosis of an injury. The rest of the diagnostic tests (simple X-ray, resonance or scanner) provide a snapshot of the region to be studied in the absence of movement, which sometimes leads to “normal” studies or without alterations in regions where there is a lesion.

Another important advantage of ultrasound, both for the orthopedic surgeon and for the patient, is that during the study, the patient can guide the professional to the place where the pain is located, directing the ultrasound analysis to the origin of the patient’s sensations; the professional being able, by means of the image obtained, to rule out or confirm which structure is responsible for the pain.

Finally, it is important to emphasize the role of ultrasound as a guide in carrying out a treatment. The possibility of obtaining a direct vision of the region to be treated, allows us during the application of a therapy, to take the material with precision to the injured structure minimizing the damage of other structures, to administer the medication only in the painful region being able to reduce the dose of medication used, and to reach structures that we can not reach in a “blind” treatment. This increases the chances of success of our treatments, and therefore the chances of curing our patients.
As in any facet of life, everything has its dark side. The main disadvantage of ultrasound is that it is very dependent on the professional who performs it and requires, for its mastery, a detailed learning and study of its handling and application in the patient. This is more than compensated by the amount of information that the specialist receives from the first cases in which it is used and that he/she will be able to expand as he/she gains experience with its use. In short, it is a very grateful test, both to clarify doubts and guide the professional and to provide the patient with a better service.