Safety Of Pregnancy Ultrasounds
Ultrasound imaging was introduced to the field of obstetrics in the late 1950s and has become a useful diagnostic tool during pregnancy. Pregnancy ultrasounds allow the fetus to be viewed in utero to help identify potential birth defects before the child is born. It can also determine the sex of the child. Let’s take a look how the technology has improved so that diagnosing and repairing problems before a child is even born is completely possible.
Research has shown that an ultrasound exam during pregnancy is safe for the unborn child. A wand called a transducer scans the abdomen in real time to form a continuous picture of the moving baby on a monitor. Very high frequency sound waves are usually used in this process. They are released from the transducer, when the wand is placed in contact with the maternal abdomen. When it is moved around, the technician can see much of the uterus.
Sound waves are beamed into the abdomen where they scan the fetus and are then reflected back as an echo onto the transducer. The information obtained from different echoes is used to create a picture on the monitor’s screen. After 16 weeks, the sex of the baby can usually be determined. It depends on the ultrasound machine and abilities of the technician. Movements like the fetal heartbeat, as well as malformations in the fetus can be distinguished and measurements can be made accurately with the images displayed on the monitor. Fetal structural abnormalities can be diagnosed by an ultrasound scan performed before 20 weeks.
Most often, pregnancy ultrasounds tests are performed with a full bladder while the abdomen is scanned. They are usually done early in a pregnancy in order to detect birth defects and to ascertain the sex of the child. An ultrasound is quite literally a hassle-free, safe and painless procedure, though a full bladder may cause some uncomfortable pressure. The gel that is used to conduct radio waves does not stain and the radio waves cannot be felt during the procedure.
3D and 4D ultrasounds are as safe as traditional pregnancy ultrasounds because the image is made up of sections of two-dimensional images; thus the ultrasound exposure is the same as with a traditional ultrasound. During a 3D ultrasound, several two-dimensional images are combined by computer software to form the three-dimensional image. They are best used for early detection of tumors, and can aid in the discovery of growths in the colon and rectum, detecting breast lumps, gauging the development of a fetus and visualizing blood flow in the extremities. Three and four-dimensional scans help aid in the diagnosis of many diseases and malformations by showing more detail from different angles.
Over the past fifty-plus years, the technology driving pregnancy ultrasounds has developed exponentially. This new technology enables medical practitioners to find problems and diagnose them while the baby is still in utero. The key to successful treatment of birth defects and malformations is early diagnosis of the problem.
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