Book excerpt: Diagnostic ultrasound is changing dramatically because of the development of a variety of high resolution real-time scanning instruments. Until recently the standard instrument was the articulated arm contact scanner. Real-time scanners were viewed as adjunct instruments for specific and limited pur poses. The roles are reversing with real-time instruments more frequently accepted as the primary diagnostic tool and the contact scanner becoming the ancillary instrument for use mainly for viewing a large field that cannot be scanned with real-time instruments. Two recent editorials stated that real-time instruments were used as the sole diagnostic instrument for between 80% [Cooperberg (2)] and 98% [Bartrum and Crow (1)] of their abdominal examinations. This book introduces the reader to the field of real-time scanning in the abdomen. It presupposes an understanding of basic physical concepts of ultrasound, the appearance of both normal and pathologic conditions as produced by static articulated arm contact scanning, and a familiarity with the techniques of contact scanning. It is designed to acquaint the reader with the spectrum of real-time instrumentation, provide a basic understanding of the physics of ultrasound as related to these instruments, emphasize the special skills required in the use of this equipment, and describe applications of real-time scanning for various parts of the abdomen. While numerous illustrations of both normal and pathologic anatomy are shown, the book is an all-inclusive study of abdominal pathology as demonstrated by real-time imaging.