Abstract

Objectives: To quantify the adherence to and awareness of bioeffect safety indices recommendations. Methods: Automated analysis of prospectively collected data including video recordings of entire ultrasound scans coupled with operator eye tracking was performed. Optical character recognition extracted the Thermal Index in bone (TIb) value and time displayed on the ultrasound machine. We report the mean and maximum exposure times and adherence to professional organisation recommendations. Additionally, we evaluated how often operators look at the displayed TIb value by analysing their gaze patterns. Results We analysed 637 routine obstetric ultrasound scans performed by 19 operators, of which 178, 216, and 243 scans were in the first, second, and third‐trimester, respectively. Exposure times (figure 1) show that recommended exposure times were maintained in all scans (table 1). Eye tracking analysis suggested that bioeffect safety indices were checked by operators in only 27 (4.2%) scans. Conclusions In this study, eye tracking showed that operators rarely assessed safety indices during scanning; however, in routine ultrasound settings, the recommended bioeffect indices were adhered to.

*L. Drukker and R. Droste contributed equally to this work.

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BibTex

@article{doi:10.1002/uog.20484,
  author = {Drukker, L. and Droste, R. and Chatelain, P. and Noble, J.A. and Papageorghiou, A.T.},
  title = {OC10.02: Bioeffects safety indices of ultrasound: quantifying adherence to recommendations on routine obstetric scan},
  journal = {Ultrasound in Obstetrics \& Gynecology},
  volume = {54},
  number = {S1},
  pages = {24-24},
  doi = {10.1002/uog.20484},
  url = {https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/uog.20484},
  eprint = {https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/uog.20484},
  year = {2019}
}