Erschienen in:
01.07.2004 | Original Article
Cranial suture simulator for ultrasound diagnosis of craniosynostosis
verfasst von:
Anh-Vu Ngo, Raymond W. Sze, Marguerite T. Parisi, Manrita Sidhu, Angelisa M. Paladin, Ed Weinberger, Kristy D. Seidel, Michael L. Cunningham
Erschienen in:
Pediatric Radiology
|
Ausgabe 7/2004
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Abstract
Background: In evaluating the effectiveness of ultrasound as a screening tool for craniosynostosis it was discovered that sonologists and sonographers needed more experience scanning and visualizing cranial sutures on ultrasound. Objective: To create an ultrasound simulator to train radiologists and technologists to locate and recognize patent and fused cranial sutures in children. Materials and methods: The hypoechoic appearance of patent sutures was simulated by cutting lines into life-sized plastic doll heads and filling them with a commercial hypoechogenic material. Fused hyperechoic sutures were simulated by not cutting into the hard plastic region of a suture. The simulator’s teaching value was evaluated on three radiology residents and three fellows. Subjects performed pre-training scans on unknown simulators, received feedback and an opportunity to scan a training simulator, and then performed post-training scans on random unknown simulators. Accuracy was recorded as percentage of correctly demonstrated sutures. Results: The suture simulator reproduces the sonographic appearance of patent and fused cranial sutures. Accuracy of acquisition, interpretation, and overall diagnosis increased from 64 to 91%, 79 to 91%, 61 to 97%, respectively, between pre and post training scans. Conclusion: An ultrasound simulator can reproduce the appearance of patent and fused cranial sutures in children and can be used to train radiologists and technologists in the performance of a screening protocol.