Ultrasound

What is Ultrasound Technology?

Ultrasound technology or ultrasonography is a medical imaging technology that utilizes high frequency sounds waves and their echoes. This technique is actually very similar to the echolocation used by animals such as bats and whales. During an ultrasound, the ultrasound machine transmits high-frequency sound pulses into your body using a probe. The sound waves travel through your soft tissue and when they reach a boundary, such as between soft tissue and bone, they get reflected. These reflected waves are picked up by the probe and sent back to the ultrasound machine. The ultrasound machine calculates the distance between the probe to the tissue or organ. During an ultrasound, millions of pulses and echoes are sent and received every second.

What is an Ultrasound Machine?

The ultrasound machine includes many components. These parts include the transducer probe, the central processing unit, the transducer pulse controls, the display, the keyboard and cursor, the disk storage and the printer.

What Are The Major Uses of Ultrasound?

Ultrasound Technology is used for a variety of applications. The most common and well known usage is for obstetrics and gynecology to aid in pre-natal care. Using the ultrasound image, the physician can measure the size of the fetus, determine the position of the fetus, check the placenta and cervix, as well as monitor any types of difficulties.

Other uses of the ultrasound machine include cardiology, to see inside the heart, and other major organs that need to be observed.

Are There Any Dangers of Ultrasound?

Though ultrasound is considered a very safe procedure, there are some concerns surrounding the technology. The primary concerns include development of heat in the tissue, and the formation of bubbles which may be caused by ultrasound. If you have concerns about ultrasound, please discuss them with your doctor.