Ultrasound - How Vital Is It?

We are mortals and changes are bound to happen in the functioning of our body and the organ's of the body with every passing day. How the body reacts to the external environment needs to be constantly studied. Therefore, It is important to keep a check of what's happening within your body and live a healthy life.

The check could be need-based as suggested by the doctor to diagnose a disease or for general health! Ultrasound scan is an important diagnostic measure to check the state of the organs inside our body via sound waves. It's is also known as sonogram, diagnostic sonography and ultrasonography. 

Types of Ultrasound
Although all types of ultrasound basically work the same, but there are a few differences in the below-listed types of ultrasound. Doctor's conduct the test basis the need.

1. Doppler Ultrasound 
2. Obstetric Ultrasound 
3. 3D and 4D Ultrasound
4. Echocardiograms Carotid Ultrasound

How does it work and why it is done?
It uses high-frequency sound waves to create an image of some part of the inside of the body, such as heart and blood vessels, liver, gallbladder, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, bladder, uterus, ovaries, eyes, thyroid, and testicles.

1. View the uterus and ovaries of a pregnant woman and assess her foetus
2. Diagnose gallbladder disease
3. Evaluate flow in blood vessels
4. Assess abdominal pain or other concerns
5. Guides a surgeon on a needle biopsy and treatment of a tumor
6. Kidney Stones
7. Pelvic ultrasound for ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, uterine growth and endometriosis
8. The thyroid gland can be imaged using ultrasound looking for nodules, growths, or tumors
9. Detect bulging of fluid from a swollen knee joint
10. Veins evaluation to assess whether swelling in a leg is due to a blood clot, deep vein thrombosis or another cause

Why Ultrasound is preferred over other methods 

1. Generally painless and does not require needles, injections or incisions.
2. Patients aren't exposed to ionizing radiation, making the procedure safer than diagnostic techniques, such as X-rays and CT scans. In fact, there are no known harmful effects when used as directed by your healthcare provider.
3. Ultrasound captures images of soft tissues that don't show up well on X-rays.
4. Ultrasound is widely accessible and less expensive than other methods.

It has some limitations, such as the sound waves do not transmit well through dense bones or parts of the body that may hold air or gas, such as the bowel and thus has a diagnostic limitation.