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Can live bi-plane sonography reduce work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the wrist?
Ben Stenberg1, Simon T Elliott
1Radiology Department, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Objectives:
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are a recognized problem affecting up to 81% of sonographers. Live bi-plane imaging is a new technology derived from matrix transducers, which allows the operator to scan in more than one plane simultaneously and can reduce the off-axis movement of the scanning arm when assessing abdominal organs. This study was performed to assess if using a bi-planar technique would reduce stressful movements of the wrist.
Methods:
Twelve patients were scanned by three operators (four each) using both a standard scanning abdominal protocol and a live bi-plane abdominal protocol using an iu22 scanner (Philips Healthcare, Bothell, WA) and an X6-1 probe with a bi-axial flexible electrogoniometer measuring the postural stresses on the scanning wrist throughout the study.
Results:
Significant flexion/extension and radial/ulnar deviations were markedly reduced using the bi-plane scanning protocol compared to the standard B-mode protocol, with an average reduction in significant repetitive wrist movements of 71.6% (p = <0.001).
Conclusions:
Bi-planar ultrasound scanning technique may reduce stressful movements on the scanning arm and might reduce the likelihood of WMSD assuming there are no other contributing factors.
