These exams include:. If the doctor performs a Doppler ultrasound exam, you may hear pulse-like sounds that change in pitch as they monitor and measure the blood flow. When the exam is complete, the technologist may ask you to dress and wait while the doctor reviews the ultrasound images. A radiologist, a doctor trained to supervise and interpret radiology exams, will analyze the images. The radiologist will send a signed report to the doctor who requested the exam.
Your doctor will then share the results with you. In some cases, the radiologist may discuss results with you after the exam. You may need a follow-up exam. If so, your doctor will explain why. Sometimes a follow-up exam further evaluates a potential issue with more views or a special imaging technique. It may also see if there has been any change in an issue over time. Follow-up exams are often the best way to see if treatment is working or if a problem needs attention.
Ultrasound waves are disrupted by air or gas. Therefore, ultrasound is not an ideal imaging technique for the air-filled bowel or organs obscured by the bowel. Ultrasound is not as useful for imaging air-filled lungs, but it may be used to detect fluid around or within the lungs.
Similarly, ultrasound cannot penetrate bone, but may be used for imaging bone fractures or for infection surrounding a bone. Large patients are more difficult to image by ultrasound because greater amounts of tissue weaken the sound waves as they pass deeper into the body and need to return to the transducer for analysis.
Ultrasound has difficulty penetrating bone and, therefore, can only see the outer surface of bony structures and not what lies within except in infants who have more cartilage in their skeletons than older children or adults.
Doctors typically use other imaging modalities such as MRI to visualize the internal structure of bones or certain joints. Please type your comment or suggestion into the text box below. Note: we are unable to answer specific questions or offer individual medical advice or opinions. Some imaging tests and treatments have special pediatric considerations.
The teddy bear denotes child-specific content. Please contact your physician with specific medical questions or for a referral to a radiologist or other physician. To locate a medical imaging or radiation oncology provider in your community, you can search the ACR-accredited facilities database. This website does not provide cost information. The costs for specific medical imaging tests, treatments and procedures may vary by geographic region. Web page review process: This Web page is reviewed regularly by a physician with expertise in the medical area presented and is further reviewed by committees from the Radiological Society of North America RSNA and the American College of Radiology ACR , comprising physicians with expertise in several radiologic areas.
Outside links: For the convenience of our users, RadiologyInfo. Toggle navigation. What is General Ultrasound Imaging? What are some common uses of the procedure? How should I prepare? What does the equipment look like? How does the procedure work? Before a biopsy, you need to discuss a range of issues with your doctor or surgeon.
Pathology tests cover blood tests, and tests on urine, stools faeces and bodily tissues. The full blood count FBC test looks for abnormalities in the blood, such as unusually high or low numbers of blood cells.
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Medical tests. Home Medical tests. Ultrasound scan. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. For an examination of the gallbladder, liver, pancreas, or spleen, you may be told to eat a fat-free meal the evening before your test and then to fast until the procedure. However, you can continue to drink water and take any medications as instructed. For other examinations, you may be asked to drink a lot of water and to hold your urine so that your bladder is full and better visualized.
Be sure to tell your doctor about any prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, or herbal supplements that you take before the exam. An ultrasound carries minimal risks. Unlike X-rays or CT scans, ultrasounds use no radiation. For this reason, they are the preferred method for examining a developing fetus during pregnancy.
Before the exam, you will change into a hospital gown. You will most likely be lying down on a table with a section of your body exposed for the test. An ultrasound technician, called a sonographer, will apply a special lubricating jelly to your skin. This prevents friction so they can rub the ultrasound transducer on your skin. The transducer has a similar appearance to a microphone. The jelly also helps transmit the sound waves. The transducer sends high-frequency sound waves through your body.
The waves echo as they hit a dense object, such as an organ or bone. Those echoes are then reflected back into a computer. The sound waves are at too high of a pitch for the human ear to hear.
They form a picture that can be interpreted by the doctor. For this reason, the FDA requires that diagnostic ultrasound devices operate within acceptable limits. The FDA, as well as many professional societies, discourage the casual use of ultrasound e.
The following are examples of current research projects funded by NIBIB that are developing new applications of ultrasound that are already in use or that will be in use in the future:. ARFI is a new technique developed by researchers at Duke University with NIBIB support that uses ultrasound elastography to differentiate liver tumors from healthy tissue, as well as identify the presence of fibrosis.
This non-invasive method could reduce unnecessary liver biopsies, which can be painful and sometimes dangerous. Image on left courtesy of Katharine Nightengale, Ph. Low-cost, miniature ultrasound. Just like computers, medical ultrasound imagers have been getting smaller and smaller. One of the biggest challenges is connecting the ultrasound transducer at the tip of the probe to the extensive computer chip-based signal processing and imaging electronics. The Vscan is a palm-size ultrasound scanner, which has both anatomical imaging and color Doppler capability.
The device is currently in clinical use and costs considerably less than a full-sized ultrasound scanner. Its small size and low cost, as well as range of applications, allow it to be used in ambulances, emergency rooms, field hospitals, or other remote locations.
It is currently being used in more than 60 countries around the world. Vscan image on right courtesy of Kai Thomenius, Ph. Histotripsy technique for dissolving blood clots. Researchers at the University of Michigan are investigating the clot-dissolving capabilities of a high intensity ultrasound technique, called histotripsy, for the non-invasive treatment of deep-vein thrombosis DVT.
This technique uses short, high-intensity pulses of ultrasound to cause clot breakdown. The researchers have successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of this technique in pigs and its possible use in humans. They are currently working on new methods to avoid inadvertent vessel damage during clot treatment, and to provide real-time imaging feedback to monitor the treatment.
This research could have a significant impact, since current conventional treatments for DVT involve drug therapy and sometimes invasive removal of the clots, which requires a several-day hospital stay, and may result in complications after treatment. In contrast, the non-invasive histotripsy technique is 50 times faster than the current technique, does not require drugs or external agents, and if successful, could be used as an outpatient procedure.
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