On Monday February 13th, 2017, Professors Mayte Gonzalez and Dannel Bisono from the Diagnostic Medical Sonography (DMS) program, took a field trip with the DMS students of the South and Hialeah Campus to the MCVI building in Baptist Hospital Main. The Section Chief of Ultrasound for Baptist Health South Florida, Ann E. Podrasky, MD was scheduled to give a presentation on contrast ultrasound at 7 pm. Florida National University professors and students arrived an hour earlier to tour the facility.
The students learned that Baptist will be one of the first hospitals to be using contrast ultrasound in South Florida. Although contrast ultrasound has been used in Europe for around 15 years it has been only recently that the FDA approved its use in the United States. Dr. Podrasky spoke about the different types of contrast agents and how they are different from the contrast agents for CT and MRI because they are not excreted by the kidneys but by the lungs so people with kidney disease can still use the contrast agents. In this particular case, the focus of the presentation was contrast on liver lesions especially on cirrhotic patients to look for HCC. Our students also learned that contrast can also help differentiate hemangiomas, FNH and adenomas. When contrast is introduced it only lasts around 3 min. The first 15-30 sec is the arterial phase and 30-50 sec is the portal venous phase even though these numbers can vary a little from patient to patient. Dynamic clips are taken while the contrast enters and is compared with dual images to their B-mode counterparts. Dr. Podrasky also went into off label use which has not been approved by FDA. Off label uses are being used for renal masses, aorta endoleaks and splenic infarction just to mention a few. The feedback from the students was that it was a great presentation and they would love to keep attending to other ones in the future.
Dr. Loreto Almonte
Director of Allied Health Division
