RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A randomised experiment comparing low-cost ultrasound gel alternative with commercial gel
JF Emergency Medicine Journal
JO Emerg Med J
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and the British Association for Accident & Emergency Medicine
SP 227
OP 230
DO 10.1136/emermed-2016-206169
VO 34
IS 4
A1 Christine Riguzzi
A1 Allison Binkowski
A1 Mike Butterfield
A1 Farhad Sani
A1 Nathan Teismann
A1 Jahan Fahimi
YR 2017
UL http://emj.bmj.com/content/34/4/227.abstract
AB Objective Point-of-care ultrasound is a portable, relatively low-cost imaging modality with great potential utility in low-resource settings. However, commercially produced ultrasound gel is often cost-prohibitive and unavailable. We investigated whether images obtained using an alternative cornstarch-based gel would be of comparable quality with those using commercial gel.Methods This was a blinded, randomised, cross-over study comparing commercially produced ultrasound gel with home-made cornstarch-based gel. Ultrasound-trained faculty obtained three video clips with each gel type from patients at one urban ED. The clips were evaluated by a radiologist and an ultrasound-trained emergency physician. Images were assessed in terms of overall adequacy (dichotomous) and quality, resolution and detail using a rating scale (0–10). All sonographers and physicians reviewing the images were blinded to the type of gel used.Results Thirty-four patients were enrolled in the study, producing 204 separate images (102 with each gel). The cornstarch gel clips were deemed accurate in 70.6% (95% CI 63.9% to 76.5%) of the scans, as compared with 65.2% (95% CI 58.4% to 71.4%) of those using commercial gel. There was no difference between the two groups with respect to image detail, resolution or quality.Conclusions Images produced using the cornstarch-based alternative ultrasound gel were of similar quality to those using commercial gel. The low cost and easy preparation of the cornstarch-based gel make it an attractive coupling medium for use in low-resource settings.