The eye is considered a perfect organ to be examined by ultrasound because:
- It has an anterior location.
- Its anatomical structures and shape enhance the echograms produced by ultrasound.
- These characteristics allow the use of higher frequencies in ophthalmic ultrasound than in other specialties of medicine, e.g. 10, 20 and 50MHz probes are used on the eye.
Ultrasound is non-invasive and is not associated with pain or side effects.
The McGill University Health Centre's Department of Ophthalmology is equipped with state of the art technology for ophthalmic ultrasound. We are among the first centres to have ultrasound biomicroscopy.
UBM has a very high resolution (20-60 microns) compared to conventional ultrasound (300-600 microns). This allows us to study anterior eye segment structures as if we are looking at a pathological specimen in vivo through a low power microscope.
As a referring Centre, the specialists at the MUHC Department of Ophthalmology have performed over 50,000 ophthalmic ultrasound examinations in the last few years, thus developing an expertise in this domain.
Some of our Equipments available:
Eye Cubed