Transducer frequency considerations in intraoperative US of the spine.

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Abstract
To determine the effect of transducer frequency, we used intraoperative spinal ultrasound to study 15 patients. All patients but one had spinal stenosis and/or disk disease affecting the cervical cord (n = 5), the thoracic cord (n = 1), or the lumbosacral area (n = 8). One patient had an arteriovenous malformation of the cervical cord. Both 5-MHz and 10-MHz transducers were used in one patient; a transducer with the option of 3.5, 5, or 7.5 MHz was used in ten; and a 10-MHz transducer was used in four. We found that, intraoperatively, 10-MHz transducers currently produce the most detailed images of the spine.