Little Miracles Sonography, Unit 1 Block B, Gatehead Business Park, Delph, Oldham OL3 5DE
What Is Ultrasound
Useful Information About Ultrasound
Ultrasound is any sound above that which the human ear can detect, it is only within the last 60 years that the technology has existed to generate and detect this type of sound in a practical way.
Ultrasound machines use the pulse-echo principle to produce images of structures within the body. The ultrasound probe (transducer) contains tiny crystals which vibrate to produce high frequency sound waves. This is what makes ultrasound probes so delicate and expensive, they can easily break if dropped or knocked. These sound waves pass through soft tissues until they hit the surface of a structure where an echo is produced which returns to the probe. The ultrasound machine uses the information from this returning echo to make the images on the screen.
There is no known side effect, or any documented harm caused by the medical use of ultrasound therefore, making it the perfect for the assessment of pregnancy and developing babies.
2D scanning
2 dimensional scans are the images you will be familiar with from medical ultrasound scans. The strength of the returning sound waves means a shade of grey can be attached to it producing the images on the screen. We can use these grey scales and measurement information to make medical diagnoses. This is why the images you get from an ultrasound are seen in black, white and greyscales.
3D/4D scanning
3D scanning allows all the returning 2D echo information to be layered up to create an impression of the surface of what is being looked at like a baby’s face or a hand etc. These images contain no additional information for diagnostic purposes and therefore have little place in routine NHS scanning. So, 3D/4D imaging is only used for social, entertainment and bonding purposes in a private setting like our little clinic.
Colour and pulse wave scanning.
We can use special techniques to be able to visualise blood flow and hear heart pulsations with the ultrasound machine. To do this extra power is used on a very small area of interest, for example a baby’s heart, to produce the visual blood flow or to hear the blood flow, and this can produce heat. Whilst no evidence exists that this is harmful the British Medical Ultrasound Society do not recommend its use on pregnancies of under 16 weeks. Therefore in our clinic pulse-beat teddies are only available from 16 weeks.