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Mater installs new endoscopic ultrasound unit
Mater installs new endoscopic ultrasound unit
The new equipment, housed in Mater Adult Hospital’s Day Procedure Unit, is available to both private and public specialists. Its capabilities include radial endoscopic ultrasound, linear endoscopic ultrasound and endobronchial ultrasound.
Consultant gastroenterologist Dr Johannes Wittmann, who performed the first endoscopic ultrasound on a pancreatic lesion, said the equipment allows faster, more accurate procedures to be undertaken.
“Endoscopic ultrasound is both diagnostic and interventional and allows biopsies through the intestine wall to sample deeper structures such as mediastinal masses, pancreatic masses and lymph nodes,” Dr Wittmann said.
“It is cost-effective and a tolerable way to treat patients on a day-case basis.”
In addition to endoscopic ultrasound, the equipment is able to undertake endobronchial ultrasound which enables safer, more accurate transbronchial biopsies to diagnose tumours and infections in the chest, lungs and mediastinum.
Dr Wittmann said the new equipment will enhance Mater Health Services’ diagnostic, oncology and research activities.
“Submucosal lesions in the gastrointestinal tract can be assessed and sampled if needed, coeliac plexus blocks can be performed to help treat cancer pain and other advanced interventional techniques such as pancreatic pseudocyst drainages can be undertaken,” he said.
The state-of-the-art Pentax Hitachi EUB-7500 endoscopic ultrasound unit allows users to perform a wide range of clinical applications, features outstanding image quality and flexible digital data management.
It is the only scanner on the market to offer elastography and “HI REZ”.
Elastography provides real time colour mapping of tissue elasticity and its distribution. The images of tissue strain can be used to assess tumour infiltration and offer more information to help a benign/malignant differential diagnosis.
HI REZ is a high resolution tissue adaptive imaging filter technique that improves both contrast resolution and signal-to-noise ratio.
