Ultrasound is one of the first services that a new resident will rotate through, since it is one of the more important facets of lower level call. This rotation typically has between 30-50 cases scheduled for the day, including both inpatient and outpatient cases. We perform 5-10 ultrasound guided procedures a day. While on this rotation the resident is involved in the adult cases only, since they will rotate through the pediatric ultrasound service on a separate rotation.

A wide variety of studies are performed at MUSC. Routine abdominal, retroperitoneal, and pelvic studies are the majority of the cases, but there is a busy transplant service that requires many renal, liver, and pancreatic transplant exams to be performed. Additionally, there are ample opportunities to perform ultrasound guided procedures while on the rotation. Since there are no fellows on this service, you will be the one to perform a wide variety of cases - including drainages, liver biopsies, fine needle aspiration of the thyroid & lymph nodes, and paracenteses/thoracenteses.

Dr. Susan Ackerman is the head of the ultrasound department, and along with Drs. Abid Irshad and Angelle Harper staff the ultrasound service.

Currently the equipment we have includes 3 GE 9Ls, 2 Accuson (now Siemens) Sequoias and 1 GE  E-Logic Notebook.  Additionally we have a volume imaging process workstation which is used to perform 3D reconstructions.  We have 7 ultrasound technologists, 2 of which are registered vascular technologists. 1 technologist is primarily a pediatric sonographer.

Our ultrasound faculty present annually at the national ultrasound meeting, and we welcome participation from residents.