An image created by ultrasonography
An ultrasonography is more commonly known as an ultrasound. It relies on the use of invisible sound waves to recreate a digital image of a patient's body that can be used for visual diagnosis. It is often used to detect pregnancies and fetal development as well as conditions such as cancer, tumors and cysts.
An image created by ultrasonography
Significance
An ultrasonography is a useful and vital tool in the process of formulating an initial diagnosis. It allows doctors to visibly detect bodily abnormalities such as fetal complications in pregnant women, gallstones, heart defects and tumors. During a diagnostic ultrasonography, frequencies produced by sound waves generally fall in the 1-10 million hertz range. The lower ranges provide deeper penetration and are used to diagnose abnormalities in the abdominal organs. Higher ranges provide less penetration and are used for superficial examinations.
Function
An ultrasonography is done through the stimulation of a small crystal, known as a transducer, inside the ultrasonography device. The transducer sends out the ultrasonic waves, which then reflect off the different tissues of the body. Once reflected, ultrasonic waves return in the form of echoes that can be transmitted into digital imaging. A doctor can then transfer this image to a computer screen for further analysis.
Types
There are several different types of the ultrasonography diagnosis. For example, an endoscopic ultrasonography uses a transducer attached to a long flexible tube to inspect hollow organs. In a gray-scale ultrasonography, the strength or weakness of echoes given off by a transducer is displayed as varying colors on a computer screen. An A-mode (or amplitude modulation) ultrasonography has two seperate axes: one to measure the strength of echoes and another to measure the time needed for an echo to return. A B-mode (brightness modulation) ultrasonography provides information regarding the strength of an echo and the distance it travels as well as the position of the object producing the echoes. An M-mode (motion mode) ultrasonography provides tracings of echogenic objects, which are objects capable of emitting sound waves, such as the heart. A doppler ultrasonography makes measurements based on the frequency of sound waves proportional to the velocity of blood flow. A real-time ultrasonography provides tracings of echogenic objects at 30 frames per second, which allows objects to be seen in current or "real" time.
Benefits
An ultrasonography is of particular value to the fields of obstetrics. It provides a generally safe, non-invasive method of detecting fetal anomalies and diagnosing pregnancies. It is often used in examinations of the heart as well as the different cavities of the body where cancers or benign cysts often develop. Ultrasonographs are sometimes used to detect tumors or foreign bodies in the eyes as well as demonstrate retinal detachment. These many uses provide doctors with an early, often life-saving diagnosis of fatal complications.
Warning
An ultrasonography is not an infallible method of diagnosis. A doctor may want to schedule additional tests (blood, urine, biopsy) to determine the presence of an illness or abnormality. An ultrasonography cannot be used to detect abnormalities within bones because the tissue is too thick. Neither can an ultrasonography detect abnormalities within the lungs because sound waves do not pass through structures that contain air.
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