Measurement of soft tissue thickness over the sacrum of elderly hospital patients using B-mode ultrasound.
The thickness of soft tissues over the sacrum of elderly hospital in-patients has been measured using B-mode ultrasound. Forty patients were scanned, of which nine had recognizable superficial pressure sores at the sacrum. No correlation was found between the depth of soft tissue and either age or Norton score. Patients with sores had less soft tissue over the sacrum (p less than 0.025). Excluding one patient whose sacral sore appeared to be the final stage of the healing process, the remaining eight all had less than 8.5 mm of sacral soft tissue cover. Five patients without sacral sores also had less than 8.5 mm of sacral soft tissue cover. However, a combination of the presence of incontinence and the depth of sacral soft tissue cover identified seven of the eight patients with sacral sores with no inclusion of patients without sores.
Clark
M
M
Department of Biochemistry, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
Rowland
L B
LB
Wood
H A
HA
Crow
R A
RA
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000473:pathology*; D012447:Sacrum; D014463:Ultrasonography