Diagnostic ultrasound, also called diagnostic medical sonography is a medical imaging method that uses sound waves to generate images of organs within your body. These images provide useful information for diagnosing and determining treatment for various diseases and health conditions. Most ultrasound examinations are usually done using an ultrasound device where in most cases, the device is outside your body. Still, others involve placing a small ultrasound device inside your body. In this post, we will discuss the ultrasound Buckhead procedures.
How Ultrasound Imaging Works
Ultrasound uses sound waves to generate ultrasound images of what is currently going on inside your body. Ultrasounds are usually performed by sonographers or ultrasound technicians who are specially trained to carry out this test. Sonography entails using an instrument known as a transducer that emits a high-frequency sound, hardly heard by the human ear, and then captures the echoes as the sound waves are reflected to determine the shape, consistency, and size of your soft tissues and organs.
Uses of Ultrasound Tests
As mentioned earlier, ultrasounds are used to view the different organs in your body and help guide doctors when performing precise medical procedures. Other common uses of diagnostic medical sonography include:
- Pregnancy. Ultrasound images have a wide array of uses during pregnancy. Back then, it was used to reveal the presence of twins or multiples and determine ectopic pregnancies and due dates. They also served as valuable screening tools in detecting potential birth problems, including placental issues, breech positioning, and congenital disabilities. Today, they are used to determine the sex of babies and even estimate how large a baby will be before birth.
- Diagnose the different conditions affecting the soft tissues and organs of the body, such as the heart, pancreas, testicles, bladder, liver, thyroid, eyes, spleen, gallbladder, kidneys, ovaries, and blood vessels.
- Guide a needle for tumor treatment or biopsy
- Examine a breast lump
- Assess joint inflammation (synovitis)
- Diagnosis of prostate and genital problems
- Evaluate metabolic bone disease
During the procedure
When you go for an ultrasound, get is applied to your skin over the area that is being examined. This gel helps prevent air pockets that can hinder the sound waves from generating images on the monitor. This water-based gel is also easy to remove from your skin and clothing in case of contact. Your sonographer will then press a small, hand-held instrument (transducer) against the targeted area and move it around the area to capture the images. The transducer projects sound waves into your body and collect the sound waves that bounce back, and displays them to a monitor, which creates images of the organs in your body. In some cases, ultrasounds can be done inside your body, where a small-sized transducer is attached to a probe and carefully inserted into a natural opening in your body. Examples include:
- Transvaginal ultrasound. A special transducer is gently inserted into your vagina to view the ovaries and uterus.
- Transesophageal echocardiogram. Here, a transducer is inserted into your esophagus to obtain the heart images.
- Transrectal ultrasound. Here, a special transducer is placed inside your rectum, creating images of the prostate.
While ultrasounds are usually painless, you may experience mild discomfort as your sonographer guides the transducer into or over your body. A typical ultrasound procedure usually lasts for 30-60 minutes.
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