Sonography: The Undiscovered Jewel of Interventional Radiology

Because most radiologists in the United States have been taught that fluoroscopy and computed tomography (CT) are the best guidance techniques for nonvascular interventional procedures, sonography has been greatly underused in this regard. Recently, sonography has been gaining recognition as a highly useful and versatile guidance technique. It has many advantages over CT and fluoroscopic guidance, including real-time imaging with vessel visualization, decreased procedure time and cost, portability, and lack of ionizing radiation. Sonography should be the primary guidance technique for many nonvascular interventional procedures, and use of sonography as an adjunct guidance technique increases the ease and speed with which many other interventional procedures are performed. Sonography should generally be used instead of CT for guidance of abdominal and pelvic biopsy and drainage. Sonographic guidance should replace CT and fluoroscopic guidance for biopsy and drainage of accessible peripheral thoracic and mediastinal masses. Use of sonographic guidance should be integrated into all interventional radiology suites to reduce radiation exposure and facilitate the performance of many nonvascular and some vascular interventional procedures that have traditionally been performed under fluoroscopic guidance.