title: Surface areas in ultrasound therapy. Evaluation of seven methods for measuring the treated skin area in physiotherapeutic application of ultrasound.
abstract: Recent articles on ultrasound (US) do not contain information about precise dosage, thus risking a non-valid conclusion of possible effects. To ensure safer standards in treatment-time, the present study compared 7 methods for the calculation of areas. Measurement by eye had a median relative difference (MRD) from the true reading of 22% (lower quartile (l.q.) = -14%, upper quartile(u.q) = -+46%), with large intraindividual variation, the span of MRD being -46% to +53%. Measuring with the transducer showed a systematic error: MRD was -48% (l.q. = -55%, u.q.= -35%), which is unacceptable. Areas were measured with satisfactory accuracy with 5 methods that require little training and use accessories some of which are inexpensive. Plates with ellipses of known size had a MRD of 0.1%, (l.q. = -3%, u.q. = +2%), while rulers showed MRD of -2%, (l.q. = -0.6%, u.q. = +5%) both on selected material. The most accurate and versatile instruments were a planimeter (MRD = -0.1%; l.q. = -0.6%; u.q. = +0.5%), a Mettler weighing apparatus (MRD = 3%; l.q. = 2%; u.q. = 6%), and a digitizer (MRD = -0.1%; l.q. = -0.4%; u.q. = +0.3%).
authors: Department of Physiotherapy, Aalborg Hospital, Denmark.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Grey
mesh_terms: D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D014464:Ultrasonic Therapy / Q000379:methods*