What You Don’t Know About Ultrasound

Ultrasound technology was originally developed throughout the 1940′s and was used in industry to detect flaws in metal and in warfare to detect enemy submarines. In the 1950′s it began to be applied in medical diagnostics as a tool to detect abdominal tumors, and later, as a suggests that of detecting gross fetal abnormalities such as anencephaly. Since then, the ultrasound machine technology has become a lot of refined and is ready to detect ever a lot of subtle indications of fetal well-being.

Ultrasound works by sending ultrasonic waves into the part of the body being examined. When interrupted by abnormal tissue such as tumors or the boundaries between tissues, the ultrasonic waves are reflected or echoed. The ultrasound machines calculate the distances traveled by those mirrored waves to get 2D pictures that show the distances and intensities of these echoes.

Ultrasound therapy is part of a physical therapy treatment using sound waves at a very high frequency to penetrate the skin deep into the soft tissue of your injured or painful area. It involves employing a hand-held wand or probe with a rounded head which is hooked up to an ultrasound machine. A gel would be rubbed onto the skin and therefore the probe head would be moved over the affected area in little circular movements. The high-frequency (ultrasonic) waves are produced by vibration on the top of the probe. The waves travel through the skin inflicting vibration to the tissue within the affected area. The vibration causes a heating up of the tissue that includes a helpful result on the injury.

In humans, studies have instructed a large choice of doable problems connected to exposure to ultrasound together with premature ovulation, premature labor, and low birth weight. Alternative studies have recommended long term effects embody a possible relationship with childhood cancers especially leukemia, and delayed speech development and dyslexia. There is some proof that as few as 2 ultrasounds might affect brain development. Research disbursed in Sweden found the next incidence of left-handedness in men who had been given 2 scans once they were fetuses. While being left handed is not a health concern, it will raise the query whether or not the ultrasound itself affects the structure and organization of the brain.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 27th, 2009 at 4:42 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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