Ultrasound Musculoskeletal

Musculoskeletal ultrasound involves imaging soft tissues and bony structures in the body for the purposes of diagnosing pathology or guiding real-time interventional procedures. Common areas of scanning are shoulders, elbows, hands, wrists, knees, feet, ankles, hips, groin and any abnormality involving muscles, joints and tendons.

NOTE: Musculoskeletal ultrasound is a broad and difficult sonographic area. Not all musculoskeletal examinations are offered at all sites due to operator specialties.

An ultrasound of the musculoskeletal structures are useful to help diagnose:

• Tendon tears, or tendinitis of the rotator cuff in the shoulder, Achilles tendon in the ankle and other tendons throughout the body,
• Muscle tears, masses or fluid collections,
• Ligament sprains or tears,
• Inflammation or fluid (effusions) within the bursae and joints,
• Early changes of rheumatoid arthritis,
• Nerve entrapments such as carpal tunnel syndrome,
• Benign and malignant soft tissue tumours,
• Ganglion cysts,
• Hernias,
• Foreign bodies in the soft tissues (such as splinters or glass),
• Dislocations of the hip in infants,
• Fluid in a painful hip joint in children,
• Neck muscle abnormalities in infants with torticollis (neck twisting).
• Soft tissue masses (lumps/bumps/swollen glands) in children.

There is no preparation required for this examination.

However, it is recommended that you wear comfortable, loose fitting clothing to your appointment ensuring the area to be scanned can be easily exposed. Bras are generally removed for shoulder scanning.

Depending on the area of interest you may be required to change into a hospital gown.

Once in the ultrasound room the sonographer will apply gel to the area to be examined and move an instrument called a transducer over that area to obtain images. The images that this takes will appear on a screen.

Some ultrasound examinations of the musculoskeletal system requires you to be seated on an examination table/chair or you could be positioned lying face-up or face-down on an examination table. The sonographer could also ask you to move the extremity being examined or may move it for you to evaluate the anatomy and function of the joint, muscle, ligament or tendon.

Once the sonographer is satisfied with the accuracy of the images the examination is usually over.

The specialised doctor is frequently required to view the live imaging during musculoskeletal examinations. Afterwards they will carefully analyse your images and make a report to your referring doctor. If the referring doctor is in the hospital they will be able to access the results on the computer. If they are not then the clerks will be able to burn the results on a disc.