Understanding Ultrasound Video Transcript

Participants

Joan Atkin MD, Unjera Jackson MD, FACOG, Marty Moss-Coane

Summary

If you're pregnant -- and even if you're not -- you've probably heard of ultrasound. But do you really know what doctors are looking for when they use it? Join our panel for an expert discussion of this common procedure.

Webcast Transcript

MARTY MOSS-COANE:  I'm Marty Moss-Coane.  If you're pregnant, and even if you're not, chances are you've heard of ultrasound, a diagnostic tool that produces pictures of the inside of the body using high-frequency sound waves.  But do you really know what doctors are looking for when they perform an ultrasound?  What kinds of abnormalities might they see?  And if something is wrong, what choices will you have to make?

Today on our webcast, we'll discuss the why, the when, the how of ultrasound.  Let me introduce our guests.  Dr. Unjera Jackson is a maternal/fetal medicine specialist and Director of Obstetrics at Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown, New Jersey.  Dr. Jackson, welcome.  Dr. Joan Atkin is a medical geneticist, and Director of Genetics at Atlantic Health System, in New Jersey.  Dr. Atkin, welcome to you as well.

Let me begin right with you, Dr. Atkin.  Help us understand a little bit more about ultrasound and how these high-frequency sound waves work.

JOAN ATKIN, MD:  That's exactly what they are.  It's like sonar, like what the bats use.  It is sound waves, and so there's no radiation, no exposure, and nothing that can harm the growing fetus inside.  But you bounce back sound waves and produce a picture on a screen.  Nowadays, we've gotten much better resolution, so the pictures are looking better and better, and even the parents looking at it can recognize parts of their fetus.

MARTY MOSS-COANE:  And they can actually see it on a screen.

JOAN ATKIN, MD:  They can, while we're doing it.

MARTY MOSS-COANE:  What is the actual gizmo, I guess; that's not a very medical term, that's used to get these pictures?  Dr. Jackson?

UNJERA JACKSON, MD:  The actually equipment is a relatively large machine that has a transducer attached to it.  The transducers are of various megahertz frequencies, depending upon the penetration that we wish to achieve in a particular case.  The waves are paced through the transducer, into the tissue and then back again, and the picture is then cast on the screen.

MARTY MOSS-COANE:  Is ultrasound used routinely in pregnancy?

UNJERA JACKSON, MD:  Ultrasounds are used almost routinely in pregnancy.  It is currently, in this country, not the standard of care that an ultrasound must be done in each and every pregnancy, and there are a variety of reasons for that, two of which include access to care or the technology, and another is cost.  There also are, even though very little information indicating that there's any risk whatsoever, that concern does come up also.  However, most obstetricians are offering at least one ultrasound to most of their patients, and aren't just using them for indications.

MARTY MOSS-COANE:  And offering them because it gives them important information on what?  About development, size of the fetus?

UNJERA JACKSON, MD:  There are a number of things that we look for, and it includes both the things that you mentioned and a variety of others.  Depending upon when the ultrasound is done, will determine what we can see and exactly what it is we're looking for.

First trimester ultrasounds are primarily done to determine viability, that is, is there a fetal heart? Is this a normal pregnancy?  Number of fetuses.  Some idea of where the placenta is implanted.  A look at the fluid around the baby.