The application of ultrasonic locating techniques to ophthalmology. II. Ultrasonic slit lamp in the ultrasonic visualization of soft tissues.

Introduction This is a preliminary report of the visualization of the interior of the lightopaque eye and the retro-ocular areas by pulsed ultrasonic echographic methods. Non-radio-opaque foreign materials, such as wood and plastics, may also be visualized, as well as soft tissue pathology. At present no other method can yield the information obtained by the technique to be described. A comparison of the visual appearance of a normal beef eye, the x-ray appearance, and the sonic appearance graphically illustrates this contention (Fig. 1). The x-ray demonstrates only the gross outline of the eye. The ultrasonogram reveals a cross section of the internal structure of the eye equivalent in detail to a low-power photomicrograph. Serial ultrasonic tomograms (Figs. 13 to 21) yield a composite picture of the eye at all levels without in any way altering the tissues. Precise direct measurement of the depth within the tissue is possible with this