Bonnie,    You speak specifically of "your" imager being more then adequate to
image deep abdominals for endo stent follow ups. Tell me a secret, what imager
are you using at Stanford to follow these up. We are doing multiples here ie.
4-6 per month and have no follow up capabilities at this time. Currently using
ATL's 3000's, 3500's, and HP5500. What do you consider an adequate machine set
up correctly to see what "we" need to see???   Thanks,    Ric

Bonnie Johnson wrote:

> M. Boyd,
>
> "currently", and I use the word loosely, we are doing CT immediately after
> graft placement and ultrasound at 1 month and 6 month followups, CT at one
> year and alternate u/s and CT every six months after. These may vary
> somewhat among physicians or according to the findings on the examinations.
> Also, the requirements vary if involved in a research trial of a product pre
> FDA approval.
>
> I would not recommend using ultrasound as a primary diagnostic tool until
> you can prove your accuracy by CTangio correlation.  It is not a straight
> forward examination and your imager has to be able to deliver very sensitive
> color Doppler deep in the abdomen or you will miss most small areas of
> extrastent flow secondary to backbleeding from lumbars,IMA, or around poor
> graft fixation sites.  We learned this lesson "painfully" using older
> equipment.  bj
>
> Bonnie L. Johnson RDMS, RVT, FSVT
> Stanford Medical Center
> Director, Vascular Laboratory Services
> Division of Vascular Surgery
> Stanford, CA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: UVM Flownet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Richard
> M. Boyd
> Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2000 12:58 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Endografts
>
> Can anyone share with me their protocol on how often you follow aortic
> endografts.