Can live bi-plane sonography reduce work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the wrist?

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.