PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS CURRENT STUDENTS FACULTY/STAFF ALUMNI COMMUNITY                                    
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ULTRASOUND RESEARCH

WHAT IS ULTRASOUND

Ultrasound is a non-invasive technique that captures tissues and organs without exposing patients to any form of radiation or magnetics. It is also commonly called ultrasonography or sonography meaning “ultrasound tomography”. Ultrasound has been used in clinical patient care in all specialties in medicine and research for more than 80 years. These applications of ultrasound historically exemplify its safety.

CLINICAL PURPOSE OF ULTRASOUND

Ultrasound is most known for its use in allopathic medicine and to a lesser extent in osteopathic medicine. Modern ultrasound research and clinical use span a very large range of diseases. The most dominant features of diagnostic ultrasound are the ability to monitor anatomical structures and functions of the organ and tissue. For example, the use of Doppler to assess blood flow velocity and volume in the heart and vessels.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT 

At RVU-SU based ultrasound research laboratory, our main goals in ultrasound research are to develop Evidence-Based osteopathic medicine, improvement of the application of ultrasound in disease prevention, and integration of ultrasound in osteopathic medical education. Therefore, we can provide opportunities to faculties and medical students opportunities with ultrasound research projects, conferences, and continue education activities.​

A wide variety of clinical ultrasound research projects are conducting at the RVU-SU-based ultrasound research laboratory. This includes a clinical study of the heart function, vascular function (carotid, aorta), which uses state-of-the-art ultrasound strain imaging and vector velocity imaging. Tissue mechanical properties are closely correlated with the function of the tissue. Ultrasound enables the physician to perform tissue palpation without touching the patient, instead of using an ultrasound beam to touch/push the targeted tissue. High spatial resolution and large dynamic range ultrasonic imaging yield not only images of anatomical structures in tissue but also quantitative data for tissue elasticity and tissue blood supply, both important indicators for detection and diagnosis of diseases.

As an assessment of osteopathic manipulative examination, we have developed multiparametric ultrasound imaging biomarkers to quantify the change in the tissue with pain, tenderness, abnormal motion, and malfunction for the diagnosis of somatic dysfunction compared with healthy tissue. We have also developed multiparametric ultrasound imaging to monitor osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) effect quantitatively. The discovery of evidence-based osteopathic medicine may make osteopathic medicine more compatible with allopathic medicine.

MAIN RESEARCH PROJECTS

  1. Quantitative ultrasound imaging to assess somatic dysfunction and OMT effect
  2. Quantitative ultrasound imaging in Sports Medicine
  3. Quantitative ultrasound imaging for neuromuscular disorders
  4. Quantitative ultrasound imaging in rehabilitation
  5. Quantitative ultrasound imaging to assess NAFLD and NASH
  6. Quantitative ultrasound imaging in cardiovascular disease
  7. Quantitative ultrasound imaging to quantify blood flow
  8. Ultrasound in medical education and global medicine
RVU Ultrasound -Liver Disease
MSK ultrasound

ULTRASOUND RESEARCH CLUB

The Ultrasound Research Subgroup will meet regularly along with the current mentor Dr. Gao to collaborate and learn from the process of how to come up with, obtain approval, perform, and publish US research.

TEAM MEMBERS

PUBLICATIONS

PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATORS

RESEARCH ARTICLES

Students Research Drones for Search and Rescue Missions

While summiting Broad Peak in the Karakoram mountain range of northeastern Pakistan, a mountaineer was separated from his climbing partner. The search party tasked with retrieving him faced the challenge of traversing a vast and difficult terrain at perilously high altitudes. However, unlike most search and rescue missions, the search party deployed a commercial drone to assist in their efforts.

When Elizabeth Kuge, OMS II, was an undergraduate student at the University of California – Santa Barbara, a gunman took the lives of six students and injured fourteen others in what became known as the Isla Vista killings. Four years later, another mass shooting occurred at the Borderline Bar and Grill in the city of Thousand Oaks, which was near SD Kuge’s hometown. “I [knew] one of the victims from...

Over the course of eight days, students and faculty from Rocky Vista University (RVU) and personnel with South Metro Fire and Rescue (SMFR) collaborated on a series of hyper-realistic training sessions designed to assess changes in the physiological response of paramedics in mass-casualty scenarios. The goal of the sessions was to inoculate first responders to the ill effects of stress by inducing a strong...

Over fifty years ago, the Department of Defense (DOD) began to explore the concept of robot-assisted trauma surgery as a means of decreasing battlefield casualties. The initial idea was telesurgery, in which a signal would be bounced from a hospital or medical facility via satellite and transmitted to a mobile operating room unit in remote battlefields. After setbacks in signal transmission to these remote areas...

A collaboration between students, faculty, and the South Metro Fire Rescue (SMFR) in Colorado has resulted in research published in the Journal of Emergency Medical Services. The authors included Joshua Calvano, OMS III, Ryan Henschell, OMS III, Rebecca Ryznar, PhD, William Suddarth, OMS II, Alex Knippenberg, OMS II, Anthony LaPorta, MD, FACS, Ryan Shelton, MPS, NREMT-P and Andrew Glen, PhD.