What is an Ultrasound scan?

Ultrasound scanning is a safe way to evaluate or assess the soft tissue structures of your body because it uses sound waves instead of ionising radiation (X-ray). Ultrasound has been used as early as the 1950s to look at soft tissues structures such as muscles, blood vessels and organs. It is done in real-time and therefore can show structures moving and blood flow.

When the transducer is placed at certain areas of the body and at certain angles, the sound waves move through the skin and different body tissues to the organs and structures within. When the sound waves reach the organ they bounce off the organs like an echo and return to the transducer. The transducer then collects the reflected waves.  The computer converts the signals into an electronic picture of the organs or tissues under study.

Ultrasound assessments are done to examine many soft tissue parts of the body such as the abdomen, female pelvis, prostate, scrotum, breasts, thyroid, musculoskeletal and vascular systems. Ultrasound is most commonly used in pregnancies to assess the development of the growing fetus. 

Due to technological advancements in the field of ultrasound, it can now include images that can be made in a three-dimensional view and/or four-dimensional view. 4D is a 3D view or picture with movement. Obstetric scanning will predominantly use 4D ultrasound to give almost lifelike pictures to expectant parents. It can also be used to enhance visualization of fetal abnormalities, picked up by conventional imaging, such as cleft lip, in order to aid the expecting parents to be able to recognize what the doctors are describing. 

At Mahoe Medical we follow the strict guidelines from ASUM (Australian Society for Ultrasound). These guidelines follow the ALARA concept (as low as reasonably achievable), using the lowest acoustic output and scan time to get the information we need for diagnosis.