Ultrasound can help doctors look inside a patient's body to see everything from heart valves to a moving baby. It is a medical imaging technique that uses frequency sound waves and their echoes to locate objects.
In ultrasound, the following events happen:
- The machine - sends high frequency sound waves into your body using a probe.
- The sound waves travel into your body and hit a boundary between tissues (between muscle and bone, or soft tissue and bone).
- Some of the sound waves are reflected back to the ultrasound machine, and some keep traveling until they hit another boundary.
- The machine calculates the distance between the probe to the tissue or organ using the speed of sound in tissue and the time of each echo’s return.
- The ultrasound machine displays the distances of the echoes on a screen, forming a two dimensional image.
During an ultrasound, gel is spread on the area of the patient that is being studied. The transducer, a small device that resembles a microphone, is rubbed over the gelled area, and sends the sound waves into the body. The transducer translates the ultrasound image to a screen, where the patient and radiologist can both view the image. Blood flow produces sounds that can be heard with Doppler ultrasound. In a typical ultrasound, millions of pulses and echoes are sent and received each second. Most exams take thirty minutes or less. A radiologist, who is a certified physician, performs the procedure.
Ultrasound has been used in a variety of clinical settings, including obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology and cancer detection. Medical experts say that the main advantage is that certain structures can be observed without using radiation. Ultrasound can also be done much faster than X-rays or other radiographic techniques.
With the technology boom of recent years, ultrasound machines have become smaller, more advanced, and less expensive. Several companies manufacture these machines for home use (mainly marketed towards pregnant women, although the ultrasound machines can also be used for other medical purposes). However, concern has also been raised over the effects the ultrasound equipment, which uses energy, on the developing fetus. Doctors recommend that pregnant women get ultrasounds only when necessary, so as not to place unneeded stress on the fetus. Some medical professionals have associated low birth weights of babies with women who received frequent ultrasounds while pregnant, but this has not been confirmed with research.
Home-use ultrasound equipment is available for rent or sale from several companies. Other companies receive used ultrasounds from hospitals, fix any problems (theoretically), and resell the machines to the general public.
You may also find home-use fetal monitors that are much more convenient for at-home use. Fetal dopplers allow you to monitor your baby’s heartbeat at home. While these devices do not usually produce images, they do allow the peace of mind that comes from hearing a baby’s heartbeat outside the doctor’s office. Many different companies offer a variety of in-home fetal monitors for safe and quick results at home.
By Virginia Zignego