Ultrasound Sonography at the Pain Clinic in Korea: Past, Present and Future

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Ultrasound is defined as sound having a frequency greater than that of which is audible to humans. Humans hear sounds at a frequency range of 20 to 20,000 cycles per second (hertz). Therefore, any sound having a frequency greater than 20,000 hertz (Hz) falls into the category of ultrasound. Today, ultraound sonography for medical purposes uses a frequeny range of 2 to 12 megahertz (MHz) [1]. As you may know, the practical use of ultrasound has evolved slowly, largely due to the limitations imposed by the equipment. In 1912, the first significant attempt for a practical applicaion in the use of ultraound was made while searching for the wreck of the Titanic. Technological advances that were made during the Second World War led to the development of SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging), which played an important role in under water warfare. Following World War II, Dr. Douglas Howry applied this technology to medical applications with limited success. It was not until the development of B-mode imaging that ul-trasound began to have a prominent postion for medical diagnoses. Another leap forward in the use of ultrasound for medical purposes occurred with the advent of gray scale imaging in 1972. The application of digital computers with sonographic imaging in the late 1970s led to the development of real-time gray scale imaging as we know it today. Ultrasound sonography has been used to diagnose diseases of the heart, abdomen and pelvis. At their early stages, the more accurate the ultrasound instrument is, the wider the area that the physician can use this device can be expanded. New areas that ultrasound sonography is being used in are needle aspirations and biopsies. In the 2000s, ultrasound sonograpy appeared in operating rooms and pain clinics. This meant that ultrasound sonography was begun used for injections near the nerve and tendon. Ultrasound sonography has several more advantages over the methods of classical pain procedures: First, ultra-sound sonography allows physicians to watch their targets (nerve and tendon) directly in order to avoid disturbing vital or sensitive anatomical structures surrounding the targets. Second, ultrasound sonography provides real time guidance , therefore improve the accuracy of block. Third, ul-trasound sonography provides observations of the …