D e s c r i p t i o n o f t e s t s a n d d i a g n o s t i c s t a n d a r d Blood for BNP levels was taken using the Triage BNP test (Biosite Diagnostics, San Diego, CA, USA), a point-of-care method based on fluorescence immunoassay. The BNP measurements were done on frozen plasma approximately 1 to 2 months after blood collection. Doppler echocardiography was done within 60 minutes of enroll...

Continuous-wave Doppler echocardiography was used to examine the aortic regurgitant flow velocity pattern in 32 patients with aortic regurgitation (AR) and 10 patients without AR. The aortic regurgitant flow velocity patterns, characterized by a rapid rise in flow velocity immediately after closure of the aortic valve, high peak flow velocity, and a gradual deceleration until the next aortic va...

One of the most significant developments of the last decade in ultrasound imaging of the heart was the evolution of 3-dimensional (3D) imaging from slow and labor-intense offline reconstruction to real-time volumetric imaging. This imaging modality provides valuable clinical information that empowers echocardiographers with new levels of confidence in the diagnosis of heart disease. We have pre...

OBJECTIVE To verify the hypothesis that the pulmonary vein pulsatility index is higher in fetuses of diabetic mothers than it is in normal fetuses of nondiabetic mothers. METHODS Twenty-four fetuses of mothers with either gestational or previous diabetes (cases), and 25 normal fetuses of mothers without systemic disease (control) were examined. Fetuses were examined through prenatal Doppler a...

The progression of liver fibrosis and the presence portal hypertension are two key points in follow-up severity assessment patients with chronic disease. Objective evaluation such aspects has proven to be difficult due lack reproducible standardized non-invasive methods. Therefore, aim this study was evaluate whether spleen stiffness (SS) can rule out high-risk varices (HRVs) non-alcoholic fatt...

Objective To compare ultrasonographic features of uterine lesions with the findings at macroscopy and microscopy. Methods Case series of ten consecutive women undergoing a hysterectomy for uterine pathology. A preoperative transvaginal ultrasound examination was performed. After hysterectomy, the uterus was re-evaluated by 3D in vitro ultrasonography and in vitro gel instillation sonography (...

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of SonoVue-enhanced ultrasonography in the follow-up of rabbit kidney lesions induced by percutaneous radiofrequency ablation. MATERIAL AND METHODS New Zealand rabbits (28) underwent percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) to generate renal lesions. Lesions were evaluated by conventional 2D ultrasound and contras...

Functional transcrannial Doppler (fTCD) is used for monitoring the hemodynamics characteristics of major cerebral arteries. Its resting-state characteristics are known only when considering the maximal velocity corresponding to the highest Doppler shift (so called the envelope signals). Significantly more information about the resting-state fTCD can be gained when considering the raw cerebral b...

Pennation angle (PA) is an important property of human skeletal muscle that plays a significant role in determining the force contribution of fascicles to skeletal movement. Two-dimensional (2D) ultrasonography is the most common approach to measure PA. However, in principle, it is challenging to infer knowledge of three-dimensional (3D) architecture from 2D assessment. Furthermore, architectur...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) transvaginal ultrasonography, power Doppler angiography (PDA) and gel infusion sonography (GIS) at offline analysis for recognition of malignant endometrium compared with real-time evaluation during scanning, and to determine optimal image parameters at 3D analysis. METHODS One hundred and sixt...