Ultrasound

General

Male and Female Pelvis, Breast, Renal, Abdomen, Neck, Testes

Musculoskeletal

Shoulders, knees and other joints, hernias, neonatal hips and joint injections

Vascular

DVT, carotid/vertebral arteries, renal arteries, leg arteries, abdominal aorta for aneurysm assessment

Obstetric

Dating, Nuchal Translucency, Morphology, Growth, 3/4D

What is Ultrasound and how does it work?

Ultrasound involves the use of high frequency sound waves to create images of organs and systems within the body. The sound waves reflect off body structures and a computer receives these reflected waves and uses them to make a picture. Unlike x-ray there is no ionizing radiation exposure with this test.A clear, water-based conducting gel is applied to the skin over the area being examined to help with the transmission of sound waves. A hand-held probe, called a transducer, is then run over the area being examined. You may be asked to change position during the scan so that other areas can be examined. In certain procedures it is necessary to insert the probe into the body. Please ask your doctor about the specifics of your test.Preparation for the procedure will depend on the area being examined. Some examinations do not require preparation. There is generally little discomfort with ultrasound procedures, however, you may find the gel slightly cold and wet.

3D and 4D Obstetric Imaging

There are several different scanning modes in medical and obstetric ultrasound. The standard common obstetric diagnostic mode is two dimensional (2D) scanning.

In three dimensional (3D) foetal scanning, however, instead of the sound waves being sent straight down and reflected back, they are sent at different angles. The returning echoes are processed by a sophisticated computer program resulting in a reconstructed three dimensional volume image of a foetal surface or internal organs, in much the same way as a CT scan machine constructs a CT scan image from multiple x-rays. 3D ultrasounds allow one to see width, height and depth of images in much the same way as 3D movies but no movement is shown.

4D Ultrasound adds the fourth dimension of time, allowing us to capture movement.