Ultrasound
What is Ultrasound?
How Long will an Ultrasound Take?
Is an
Ultrasound Safe?
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Ultrasound What is Ultrasound? | |
Ultrasound, also known as sonography, uses sound waves to create images of the internal organs and tissues. Sound waves are produced by a transducer which is placed on the skin near the organ being scanned. These sound waves reflect differently off of different organs and transmit signals back through the transducer and into a computer making it possible to differentiate one organ from another.
Ultrasound can be used to image most soft-tissue organs, such as the pelvic and reproductive organs, kidneys, pancreas, and liver. Ultrasound is not suitable for evaluating most of the musculoskeletal system because high-frequency sound waves cannot penetrate bone.
Ultrasound is most commonly used in obstetrics to image the fetus and monitor its progress throughout pregnancy. It can provide information about a baby's movements in the uterus and detect breathing and other bodily functions. It also can help doctors determine if the fetus has congenital problems or is in distress.
Ultrasound is also routinely used for a variety of reasons, such as detecting gallstones, abnormalities of the liver or spleen, and blockages in the kidneys. It can also identify aneurysms, or enlargements, of the blood vessels in the abdominal organs, the structures of the heart, and the narrowing of the arteries that lead to the lower extremities. Doppler ultrasound imaging is a technique which can measure the movement of blood through veins and arteries.
Today, ultrasound is also effectively being used in conjunction with mammography to help differentiate between different types of abnormalities.
How long will an ultrasound exam take?
An ultrasound exam can take as little as 15 minutes and as long as an hour.
How safe is an ultrasound exam?
Ultrasound is a safe, noninvasive imaging technique which uses no radiation or radioactive materials. This makes this the procedure of choice for obstetrical examinations.