Safety of medical diagnostic ultrasound.

The exemplary safety record of diagnostic ultrasound (DUS) is probably an important reason that it has become so widely used. Advances in technology and procedures promise to make it even more valuable. At the same time, some of these advances bring with them new situations where harm can occur unless they are given appropriate attention. Maintaining patient safety along with increasing benefits requires (1) a vigorous continuing research program for determining optimum operating conditions and (2) effective means for communicating guidance to users. In this article, a standard developed in the USA for displaying safety information is discussed.