Knowledge and attitudes of ultrasonography physicians regarding the biological effects of ultrasound in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa.

Objective: To assess the knowledge and practical attitudes of ultrasonography physicians regarding the biological effects of ultrasound in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa.

Materials And Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study carried out over a period of 03 months (from 1st August to 31st October 2019) which included doctors carrying out ultrasound examinations in French-speaking sub-Saharan African countries via an electronic survey form.

Results: The 137 ultrasonography physicians came from 13 different countries and included 58% radiologists, 15% gynecologists, 14% cardiologists and 13% general practitioners. The majority of ultrasonography physicians had less than 10 years of professional experience (87.60%) and performed more than 25 ultrasonographies per week (65.69%). The biological effects of ultrasound were known by 69.34% of ultrasonography physicians. Only 44% were able to cite the two biological effects of ultrasounds; 59.13% were unaware of the existence of thermal and mechanical indexes and 66.42% had no idea about the normal values of these indexes. They were unaware that their devices showed mechanical or thermal index in 48.91% of cases, consulted these indexes at the beginning of ultrasound explorations in 26.92%, and had no idea about the practical attitudes to adopt in the face of an increase in these indexes in 54.74% of cases. Half of the gynecologists and general practitioners and 55% of the radiologists affirmed that they avoid using Doppler as much as possible to explore the embryo.

Conclusion: The level of knowledge of ultrasonography physicians about the biological effects of ultrasound was unsatisfactory in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa and good attitudes to ultrasound safety were not always adopted.