Sonopath Search Engine Tutorial

The Sonopath Clinical Search is designed with clinical sonography in mind. By using the clinical case findings as search criteria, sonographic pathology with images and video matching the cases can be found. It should be noted that the search does not “define” all sonographic pathology, but will give the user many presentations of pathology which correlate to the clinical findings.

It is possible to use the engine in two ways:

• A general search for specific pathology by entering the name of the disease or condition
  
• A clinical case search by entering the specific findings including blood work, exam findings, signalment, etc. will yield cases that match with sonographic diagnoses. The more information clearly entered, the more refined the search. The less information entered such as “canine” the broader the search (can be in the hundreds of cases).
  

• Entering the clinical findings and clicking the “General” search radio button at the bottom of the page will yield many matches. 

• Entering the findings and clicking the “Specific” search button will yield fewer results. At times, if there are no specific criteria that completely match, there will be no resulting matches.
   

• To search by pathology name, enter it in the “Search by Pathology Keyword” field. For example: Mucocele.
   

• When the search for “mucocele” is complete, three pages with case numbers and title resulted. Each case link when opened will be the complete case including history, clinical findings, images, video, sonographic interpretation, sonographic diagnosis, sampling and outcome or comments. The most relevant cases will appear at the top of the list, those with “mucocele” in the title.
   

• To search by clinical criteria, go to the next section of the screen marked in dark grey.  Input as much known criteria as possible to refine the search to just a few cases. However becoming too specific may not yield a result at all. The most important criteria are of course the most relevant to the case. For example, when we input “Canine”,  Lethargy and WBC “high”, and search General, we get 10 pages of results, all with the at least one of the stated criteria. However the diagnoses will be different from each other. (Diagnosis is in title of each case) because the criteria was open (lethargy and high white count are common to many disease states).

• Clicking the Study Search button at the top left of the screen will take you back to the main page and clear criteria all selections.
   

• If a search is performed with more results than desired, then by pushing the “Back to Study Search” to the right of the results field will go back to the original search with all previous criteria still selected.  You may then add more criteria to refine the search.

More Examples of How the Search Works

• For example: search Feline, Hematuria, Vomiting, Weight loss by GENERAL search and get 12 pages of results, all with the ANY of the above words in the text, but not necessarily ONLY those words.

• If the same search criteria are used and the SPECIFIC button is pushed, then only one case results, thus the search is more specific and finds only the case that matches ALL words. The more criteria, the fewer the results when using the SPECIFIC search key..
   

Conversely, if fewer criteria are selected, then the SPECIFIC search will yield many results, as it searches for ALL words that match.

• Search Feline, weight loss and the result will be five pages, with the most significant matches at the top of the list.
   

Five pages result from the search.

• The “For administrative use only” does not function for the general user.
   

Tips on Becoming Proficient Using the Clinical Search

• If using the Pathology Keyword Search you may input a single word, such as Addison's or obstruction. If only the word Addison's is input, then only a two pages of results come up.
   

If Addison's disease is input for example, hundreds of cases will come up as the engine now searches for the word disease also.

“Addison's disease” search by Pathology Keyword:
 

More than 10 pages of results because the word “disease” was included.

• The radio buttons on each criteria page have values of high, low, a number, or none. Keep in mind that the buttons must have an answer. The default is “none”. If a different value is chosen, then the button will stay highlighted until changed to another selection. Double clicking does not de-select the button.

• Using the Clinical Search criteria tabs will aid in refining the search more accurately. It is beneficial to start with a greater number of search criteria if searching for specific diseases or findings. If the desired result I not found, then broaden the search by using only a few of the criteria.

We hope this searchable archive is of great benefit to the clinical sonographer, both those new to the field and the accomplished user. Please contact us for questions or comments on the search engine.

'Don't go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.' Ralph Waldo Emerson