Methodologies for imaging reference cross-sections using a diagnostic device with built-in software: effect of a novel image-acquisition procedure on examination time during abdominal ultrasound screening

<p>Background: The Manual for Abdominal Ultrasound in Cancer Screening and Health Checkups recommends recording 25 images of reference cross-sections to improve examination accuracy; however, this might extend the examination time. Therefore, we investigated whether the examination time could be shortened via changing the image-acquisition procedure.</p><p>Methods: Participants who underwent abdominal ultrasounds at an annual health checkup, presenting five or fewer findings of liver and renal cysts, were enrolled. In the reference cross-section priority group, an image of the reference cross-section was first recorded, followed by that of the cyst. In the reference cross-section withdrawal/recovery group, imaging of the reference cross-section was interrupted to obtain the cyst image, after which it was resumed. Imaging in both groups was performed using the reference cross-section imaging software built into the devices. We compared the difference in examination time based on the number of cysts in both groups using the Mann-Whitney U test. In the reference cross-section priority and withdrawal/recovery groups, 126 and 101 cases presented one cyst, 159 and 134 presented ≤two cysts, 180 and 152 exhibited ≤three cysts, 190 and 157 had ≤four cysts, and 209 and 167 displayed ≤five cysts, respectively.</p><p>Results: The median examination times in the reference cross-section priority and the reference cross-section withdrawal/recovery groups of the cases with one cyst were 484.5 s and 422.0 s (P=0.008), respectively, while that of the ≤two, ≤three, ≤four, and ≤five cysts cases were 485.0 s and 444.0 s (P=0.018), 489.5 s and 454.0 s (P=0.015), 492.5 s and 454.0 s (P=0.004), and 500.0 s and 460.0 s (P=0.007), respectively. In both groups, the ultrasound examination time was found to decrease significantly.</p><p>Conclusions: Using the standard built-in software of the diagnostic device, the ultrasound examination time was significantly shortened via changing the imaging methodologies. Thus, the ultrasonographic workflow can be improved via changing the image-acquisition procedure.</p>