Ultrasound


Last updated October 2009
Edited by: Guy Slowik, FRCS

Putting It All Together

Here is a summary of the important facts and information related to ultrasound:

  • Ultrasound is a diagnostic Pertaining to the investigation to find a specific identifiable condition or disease. procedure that uses painless and harmless high frequency sound waves inaudible to the human ear to view internal organs and produce images of the human body

  • One of the most common uses for ultrasound is to view the uterus and fetus The developing cells in the uterus that will become a child. during pregnancy. Ultrasound scanning is often performed about 16 to 18 weeks into the pregnancy.

  • Echocardiography is a specialized type of ultrasound that is used to look at the function and action of the heart An organ positioned centrally in the chest, with the right margin directly underneath the right side of the sternum, or breastbone. The rest of the heart points to the left, with the lowest point located directly underneath the left nipple.. Among other conditions, echocardiography is used for the following:

  • To detect structural and some functional abnormalities of the heart wall, valves, and large blood vessels

  • To measures blood flow across the heart valves

  • Doppler echocardiography is a recently developed ultrasound technique that indirectly measures the flow of blood as it passes through the heart. Among other conditions, Doppler echocardiography is used to assess:

    • Malfunctioning heart valves in aortic stenosis Narrowing of the aortic valve opening, causing obstruction of blood flow into the circulation. The condition causes the heart to work harder and the muscle in the wall of the left ventricle (lower chamber) to thicken. or mitral insufficiency Failure of the mitral valve of the heart to close properly, which allows blood to leak back into the left atrium (upper chamber) when pumped out of the left ventricle (lower chamber). Also known as mitral incompetence or mitral regurgitation.

    • Congenital heart disease A malformation of the heart or blood vessels near the heart.

  • Ultrasound is being used more frequently in conjunction with fine-needle biopsy A procedure to remove cells to investigate a condition. . The ultrasound is valuable in helping the doctor to guide the needle accurately to a specific target.

  • No special preparation is required for a routine ultrasound.

  • During the ultrasound examination, a machine called a transducer The hand-held portion of the ultrasound imaging machine, which sends sound waves into the body, and records echoes produced by the waves. that both emits the sound and detects the returning echoes is placed on or over the body part being studied. The transducer sends the information it collects to the scanner, which generates the ultrasound image.

  • Normal activities can be resumed immediately after the test.

  • An ultrasound imaging procedure is safe and painless.

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