Catheter-based intraluminal sonography.

With the development of interventional and minimally invasive surgical techniques in the last decade, a strong interest in intraluminal sonography has arisen because of the need for better imaging information and management of the interventional procedure. High-resolution intraluminal sonography is a unique approach for the evaluation of a wide range of abnormalities within the luminal structures throughout the body. This imaging technique has been able to obtain information not available with even the most sophisticated percutaneous sonography, CT, or MRI. The uniqueness of this approach has led to extensive research, establishing a variety of clinical applications. These miniature catheter-based transducers have become important supplemental tools in the evaluation of the urinary and gastrointestinal tracts. Other areas need to be evaluated more thoroughly before efficacy is established, but the concept of using miniature transducers has shown promise in many areas of the body. This should lead to the provision of important information for decision making relative to patient care and surgical intervention. In the future, with projected technical progress, intraluminal sonography should substantially improve its diagnostic capabilities.