A team of radiologists led by William Shiels, Chief of the Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Children's Hospital Department of Radiology and president of Children's Radiological Institute, Inc. is training military physicians on how to remove shrapnel foreign bodies from military personnel using ultrasound-guided techniques developed at the facility.
Shiels and his team have been providing the training as part of a $1 million research grant. The project uses ultrasound to diagnose the position and shape of foreign bodies that have been embedded in soft tissues, tendons, joints, cartilage, and bone. According to Shiels and his team, the advantage of ultrasound guided foreign body removal is that it can accurately guide the removal of these foreign bodies while minimizing discomfort, scarring and potential tissue damage that results from conventional surgical techniques.
Shiels and his team currently are engaged in training sessions that eventually will involve 48 military physicians (targeting radiologists and trauma surgeons) at four military medical centers in the U.S. Announcement