Sonosurgery is minimally invasive surgery in which ultrasound guidance is constitutive. Ultrasound is not an optional aid that happens to be useful; it is a requirement without which the procedure cannot be carried out. The type of instrument used forms no part of the definition.
Surgery has advanced together with its eyes. From the naked eye to the microscope, then to endoscopic surgery and to fluoroscopic surgery. Each became an established field in its own right, giving rise to dedicated instruments and dedicated techniques. Ultrasound-guided surgery is following the same path. Its capacity to visualise soft tissue in real time — a property that none of the other eyes possesses — makes procedures possible that were previously beyond reach.
Sonosurgery names a mode of surgery, not a device.
Sonosurgery requires the introduction of high-resolution ultrasound equipment and demands both image interpretation and probe handling of the surgeon. The Society exists to establish sonosurgery within orthopaedics and to see it adopted more widely. At the same time, we regard it as our mission to pursue a healthcare environment in which surgical skill, equipment investment and patient benefit are met with commensurate compensation, so that the burden borne by institutions as medicine advances is returned as fair reward for the benefit delivered to patients.
