Efficacy of intraoperative US for evaluating intracranial masses.

The efficacy of intraoperative neurosurgical ultrasound (US) scanning was determined in studies of 191 lesions (186 patients). US was deemed to have played a useful role in operations on 101 (53%) of these lesions, including 66 (49%) of the 136 brain tumors. The main utility of US imaging was in locating subcortical masses, but it also proved useful in identifying residual tumor after resection; locating cysts within tumors; delineating surrounding vascular structures; and locating subcortical cysts, hematomas, arteriovenous malformations, and inflammatory masses or abscesses. In light of these findings, US study appears to have a place in many intracranial operations.