ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the use of ultrasound in the neck with relevance to clinicians who either want to gain a greater understanding of the technique or who wish to begin to use ultrasound in their practice. Ultrasound imaging does not require ionizing radiation and is a relatively inexpensive, non-invasive and readily available technique, which is well tolerated by patients. It is particularly useful in examining superficial structures, where the use of a high-frequency linear probe produces high-definition images in multiple imaging planes. The spatial resolution achieved by ultrasound surpasses that of either computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and when combined with tissue sampling techniques (percutaneous fine needle aspiration (FNA) for cytology or core biopsy for histopathology), ultrasound is a highly specific diagnostic tool. Clinicians may choose to learn how to use ultrasound as an adjunct to clinical examination and as an aid to biopsy techniques.
