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Healthcare Today Technology and Procedures

What to Expect When Getting an Ultrasound

While an ultrasound is mostly associated with pregnancy, this tool also can be used to look at your neck or abdomen to see how specific organs are functioning. Here's what you need to know about getting an ultrasound.

During an ultrasound procedure, a doctor or technician first applies a jelly onto your stomach or neck. This jelly allows sound waves, which are emitted from the wand of the ultrasound machine, to pass more efficiently through your skin. As these sound waves encounter different organs and tissues inside, they are reflected back to the wand. A computer can then calculate the distance at which the sound wave hit something inside based on the time it takes for the sound wave to bounce back. These measurements are combined to create a black and white, two-dimensional image or either a growing fetus, your kidneys or even your blood vessels.

The benefit of the ultrasound is that the images created are happening inside your body at that moment, allowing a doctor to shift the position of the wand and immediately get another view of the organ. There are now three-dimensional ultrasounds that help doctors track possible developmental problems in a baby or even detect the early stages of a tumor in some organs.

Other than for pregnancy, "a very common use of an ultrasound would be to look at the gallbladder for gallstones," says Dr. James Borgstede, chairman of the board of chancellors of the College of Radiology. Ultrasound can also be used look at your liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys and bladder. For some of these exams, you may need to fast beforehand to ensure an unobstructed view of the organ.

A special type of ultrasound, called a Doppler ultrasound, is used in patients with suspected problems with blood flow. Using the same principles as the regular ultrasound, this machine can determine the rate at which blood travels through arteries and the heart itself to help doctors detect any blockages.

Ultrasounds are completely painless and generally do not take more than a few minutes. While the routine ultrasound to determine the initial health of your baby has not been found to be dangerous, the machine does expose your baby to sound waves.

"There is no danger from an ultrasound in terms of medical use," says Borgstede. However, using an ultrasound for extended periods of time, just to check in on baby may be problematic, as there is some evidence that excessive use may cause babies to be born at a lower birth weight than average.