What is ultrasound used for?
Typically ultrasound imaging is used extensively in obstetrics and gynecology, and in the evaluation of the liver, kidneys, gallbladder, pancreas, and spleen. For example, if a patient is suffering from abdominal pain, an ultrasound can evaluate major organs in the abdomen to aid in determining the cause of the pain such as gallstones, or an inflamed appendix. As mentioned above, ultrasound is imperative in providing important information about the developing fetus and functioning of the fetal internal organs. It is also used in evaluating the uterus and ovaries and is excellent in detecting ovarian cysts. Ultrasound is used to evaluate the thyroid and lumps in the breast as well as for soft tissue abnormalities. It is also used as an initial screening for masses or blood clots of the extremities. Doppler ultrasound is a special type of ultrasound that is used in the examination of major blood vessels.
Using ultrasound for practical purposes is sometimes called ultrasonics—and it’s used for everything from industrial welding and drilling to producing homogenized milk and photographic film. Pregnant woman undergoing ultrasound womb testing Probably the best known example of ultrasonics is medical testing. To save having to open up your body to detect an illness, doctors can simply run an ultrasound scanner over your skin to see inside. The scanner looks a bit like a computer mouse. It has a built in transducer that beams harmless, ultrasound waves down into your body. As the waves travel through the different bones and tissues, they reflect back up again. The same transducer (or a separate one alongside) receives the reflected waves and a computer attached to the scanner uses them to draw a detailed picture of what’s happening inside you on a screen. Scans of fetuses (unborn babies developing in the womb) are made this way.
Ultrasound, unlike most other imaging methods, can create “movies” of the beating heart, peristalsis (contraction) of bowel loops, and can show flowing blood. Ultrasound can be used to evaluate breast lumps and abnormalities seen on mammograms. It is often used to guide biopsies, such as breast biopsies. Computerized ultrasound technology is employed in other applications as well. Using a special form of US called DOPPLER (just like police RADAR), the speed and direction of flowing blood can be measured and illustrated in color pictures. This Doppler technique allows Radiologists to find blocked blood vessels. What kind of preparation will I need for my ultrasound? For aorta, kidney, or upper abdominal studies: -nothing to eat or drink for 8 hours.
Ultrasound is useful in diagnosing both cancerous and benign lumps that are large enough to feel or have been detected on a mammogram. It is the best test to “rule out” the possibility of a cancer as it can distinguish whether a lump is solid (made of tissue) or a cyst (filled with water) (see Figure 1). Ultrasound can detect a simple cyst, which is noncancerous, with 100% accuracy and when this is the case, no further tests are required.
