ABSTRACT
The first uses of intraoperative ultrasonography date back to the 1960s when A-mode ultrasound scanning was used to detect renal calculi during nephrolithotomy procedures (1) and gallstones and choledocholithiasis (2,3). Scattered and sporadic reports were found in the literature for the next two decades but it was not until the mid-to late 1980s that IOUS techniques and equipment became an increasingly important imaging tool for the surgeons (4). Miniaturization of equipment, the development of specific IOUS probes, the ability to perform Doppler and color flow imaging, and the development of laparoscopic ultrasound (LUS) probes all have contributed to the rapidly growing demand for IOUS imaging.
