Vascular ultrasound

Surgeon-interpreted diagnostic ultrasound has become the preferred screening test and often the definitive test for the diagnosis of arterial stenosis, aneurysm, and venous thrombosis. As a modality for surveillance, its noninvasive quality makes it particularly appealing as the test of choice to screen patients for abdominal aortic aneurysms or to perform follow-up examinations on those patients with a carotid endartectomy or in situ bypass grafts. The increasing reliance on intraoperative duplex imaging of vascular procedures demands that the surgeon learn the skills to perform the studies without a technologist or radiologist to interpret the examination.