The Life Cycle Organisation donated an Aloka Ultrasound machine to the Renal Unit at St Luke’s Hospital yesterday.

The presentation of the machine was made in the presence of Health, Elderly and Community Care Minister Louis Deguara yesterday.

Health Division director-general Dr Ray Busuttil, St Luke’s superintendent Dr Frank Bartolo, Life Cycle Organisation CEO Dr Kenneth Grech and some of the sponsors were also present at the press conference.

One of the main aims of the Life Cycle Organisation is to provide funds for the Renal Unit and to provide a better quality of life for renal patients. An Aloka Ultrasound Machine converts high frequency sound waves into images of body organs and structures, and shows their condition.

The Aloka Ultrasound machine will be stationed in the Radiology Department and is easily accessible. Life Cycle will also be donating a portable ultrasound machine in the near future which can be used mainly in the Renal Unit and Operating Theatre, facilitating vascular access for haemodialysis.

Without dialysis, patients suffering from chronic renal failure will die, and their only hope for a normal life is a kidney transplant. The diagnosis of chronic renal failure uses ultrasonic technology.

Ultrasound examination is safe, painless, and clinically much sought after as a means of diagnosis. It is less invasive and is used both for routine and specialised examinations. It can be used to examine certain parts of the body’s circulatory system, sometimes replacing the angiogram and/or venogram, and thus avoiding the use of injection of dye into the arteries or veins.

An ultrasound of the kidneys is a frequently requested examination and is used for both diagnostic and follow-up examination of the kidneys. About 14,000 ultrasound examinations are carried out at St Luke’s annually, and about 20 per cent of these are kidney ultrasounds.