Ultrasound

The revised EBM (German Uniform Evaluation Standard) catalog came into force on July 1, 2021. Three biomarker tests in breast cancer, a number of services related to cryopreservation of egg and sperm cells in young cancer patients, new services dedicated to prenatal testing of the fetal rhesus factor, services concerning the delivery of brachytherapy in prostate cancer were introduced.

In March 2021, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published four new Interventional Procedure Guidance (transcervical ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation for symptomatic uterine fibroids, extracorporeal whole liver perfusion, free-functioning gracilis transfer to restore upper limb function, cytoreduction surgery with hyperthermic intraoperative peritoneal chemotherapy), two Medical Technologies Guidance (Danis stent for acute oesophageal variceal bleeding, Alpha-Stim AID for anxiety disorders), two Medtech Innovation Briefings (Sonata system for symptomatic uterine fibroids, Butterfly iQ+ for diagnostic ultrasound), and one Diagnostic Guidance (QAngio XA 3D QFR and CAAS vFFR imaging software for assessing coronary stenosis). Also, five clinical guidelines were updated.

In March 2021, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in England released six MedTech-related reports in its Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Journal, which concerned sacral nerve stimulation and magnetic sphincter augmentation device for fecal incontinence treatment, patch augmentation surgery for rotator cuff repair, in-vitro diagnostics, and eHealth. HTA Journal publishes research reports on the effectiveness, costs, and broader impact of health technologies for those who use, manage, and provide care in the NHS and inform National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance.

The German Society for Neurology (DGN) has released a new version of the S1 guideline "Diagnostics and therapy of neurogenic bladder disorders." It is valid until January 2025.

In September 2019, Skåne Region released a report for ultrasound in symptoms of the acute scrotum that aimed to understand whether increased ultrasound use could improve the diagnostic of the studied condition. Although no studies investigating the direct benefit of ultrasound in patients with symptoms of acute scrotum were identified, its high precision, sensitivity, and specificity were outlined.

In July 2019, the Health Technology Evaluation Service of the Basque County, OSTEBA, published a report titled “Indications, utility, and use of ultrasound in primary care.”

The mini-HTA for internal emergency medicine ultrasound in patients with urgent medical conditions was released in July 2019 in Norway. The method was determined as efficient, safe, and was recommended to be introduced as part of the clinical routine in the hospital.

On April 18, 2019, the Nomenclature was updated. The update brought changes in chapter V of Nomenclature, regarding the creation of new codes for ultrasound examination during pregnancy.

The Basque Office for Health Technology Assessment (OSTEBA) published results of assessments of different techniques for biopsy of prostate. In accordance to this report, biopsy with image fusion (MRI and ultrasound) can be considered as a first diagnostic option for prostate biopsy.