Present indications and future expectations of ultrasound in surgery

With the improvement of resolution in the ultrasound image, this technique has become more and more popular as a diagnostic means in various fields of medicine. Surgeons use diagnostic ultrasound pre-, intra- and postoperatively. Preoperatively, it is mainly employed for tumour staging, differential diagnosis of the acute abdomen, assessment of intra-abdominal and intrathoracic fluid in polytrauma and lately for arthrosonography. Intraoperative ultrasound has developed into one of the most important tools in intraoperative decision making in surgery of the liver, the bile ducts and the pancreas. Adenomas of the parathyroid glands may represent an indication for intraoperative ultrasound. Postoperative ultrasound has become increasingly important in the follow-up of tumour patients and the monitoring of patients in the intensive care unit. Interventional sonography can either be diagnostic or therapeutic. Both pre- and postoperatively, it can be used to help acquire material for microbiological, chemical and cytological examination. On the other hand, it is applied for drainage of abscesses and pancreatic pseudocysts, as well as pleural and intra-abdominal fluid collections. The main problem for the surgeon beginning to work with ultrasound today is the lack of training facilities with an experienced teacher. This is the origin of most of the other problems, such as quality control, 24-h service and interobserver-variations. With the new technologies already available or being developed, ultrasound is bound to gain even more importance for the surgeon in the future.