At the first of the year, we wrote a post about sonographer job growth remaining strong in 2015. Well, here comes another survey, this one by Kiplinger, that confirms sonography as a dynamic and rewarding choice for a career.  

At Ultra Imaging Solutions, we love sonographers. They're some of our favorite people...and customers, of course! Our job is to make your job more productive, less stressful, and as enjoyable as possible. Feel free to give us a call if you ever need: 

• Equipment certification for accreditation
  
• Equipment maintenance or assistance
• New or refurbished ultrasound
• News about new products or technology

If you'd just like to chat, we'd like that too!

It's been a long, hard winter, but spring is here! 
We hope you all enjoy some time with your families and friends as we celebrate a vibrant new season. Although many of us do our annual planning around the first of the year, there is nothing that makes us look forward to the future more than spring. 

On behalf of all your friends at Ultra Imaging Solutions, Happy Spring!

Ultrasound has changed tremendously since Dr. Ludwig's A-mode system in 1949. It's great to see all the latest advances in the application of this cost-effective and dynamic imaging modality. It's really nice that the systems aren't made out of wood anymore!

When Shelby Iapoce, daughter of Ultra Imaging Solutions co-founder Joe Iapoce, learned of the Wounded Warrior Project, she knew she wanted to get involved.  

Shelby is a member of Fairfield University's women's lacrosse team, which helps raise funds and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.  "My family has always supported veterans," Shelby said, "and I wanted to do something for them as well." She found the Wounded Warriors Project to be a perfect match for her desire to support veterans and decided to make a difference. 

Shelby is the driver of the Fairfield Stags Lacross Team effort to generate awareness and support for Wounded Warriors and last year's event at the annual men's and women's double-header raised over $14,000. The team hopes to duplicate or exceed that effort this year. 

Proud father Joe sets up tents at the team's event and helps take care of customers who purchase Wounded Warrior Project merchandise and contribute to this worthy cause. 

Like Joe, we're proud of Shelby's efforts and proud to support the Wounded Warrior Project.

Click here to watch a video about last year's event.

If you'd like to learn more about the Wounded Warrior Project, click here.

A sonographer can accumulate a lot of tension in a day's work, but you don't have to be a Yoga Master to effectively combat stress. 

Sonographers combine compassion and skill with heavy workloads and long hours, creating a great deal of stress in their daily lives.  Recently, Mark Roozen and Doug Wuebben wrote a great article on AuntMinnie.com showing how tennis balls, foam rollers and other items can be used to help relieve a sonographer's physical tensions.

By applying pressure to certain trigger points in the body, the techniques they describe have been used by therapists for years to  help muscles relax and relieve pain. Whether using a tennis ball on the feet and back or a foam roller on the shoulders, they demonstrate great ways to help keep your body in good working order.

Well designed ultrasound components also help to keep tension from building up during a long day of scanning. One of our favorite ergonomic innovations is the Esaote Appleprobe design. These probes are uniquely designed to minimize the pinching grips required to scan with typical probes and leverage the natural shape of the palm to help exert pressure and direct the probe.

Many of the sonographers that use these probes really like the way they make them feel at the end of the day. If you'd like to try out the Appleprobe design, send us a note or give us a call. We'll be glad to give you a 'test drive'.

Here's the full article by Mark and Doug on Auntminnie.com

With Valentine's Day coming up, many of us are thinking about chocolates, cards  and flowers for our sweethearts. But what about those who have recently lost someone they love? 

A recent study by medics at the University of Aberdeen found that 'broken heart syndrome', also known as acute stress-induced cardiomyopathy, doesn't heal as rapidly as we thought. It turns out that time may heal a broken heart...but it requires more time that we thought.

Four months after the triggering event, typically a major stress or trauma, echocardiograms show the heart as normal, but more advanced cardiac MR and spectroscopy reveal continued abnormalities.

Read the entire article in Newsweek here.
Or a story from the UK here.

Like many states, California recently enacted a breast density notification law (April 1, 2013). In the 10 months following the law's implementation, less than half of California primary care physicians were aware of the legislation.

The study, conducted by Dr. Kathleen Khong from the University of California, Davis, is reported on AuntMinnie and shows the level of communication necessary to assure all women in a state benefit from breast density notification laws. 

Of course, Connecticut is ahead of the curve, having enacted notification in 2009. New York enacted theirs in 2013, Rhode Island in 2014, and Massachusetts on January 1, 2015. It's clear that all of us in the imaging community have a role in educating and information physicians and patients alike.

Read the entire article on AuntMinnie here.

When performing image-guided biopsies of bone neoplasms, ultrasound and CT yield comparable results according to research from the Henry Ford Health System.

Summarized in an article on Auntminnie.com, ultrasound once again proves its value as an effective and efficient imaging modality. In a retrospective study of 100 patients, both CT and ultrasound guided biopsies had an overall efficiency of 87.9%.

With no radiation and lower cost, ultrasound is rapidly becoming a preferred imaging modality for image-guided biopsies.

More specific results of the study can be viewed on the Auntminnie article here.