Use of ultrasound in Hospitals

Ultrasound is the name given to high frequency sound – defined as sound with a frequency over 20 000Hz. Sounds with this frequency are too high in pitch to be heard by the human ear. (For comparison, middle-C on a standard piano is 261.626Hz.) These waves can be transmitted in beams (like light) and are used to produce live 2-D images of the internal organs. Recently it has become possible to generate 3-D images by means of ultrasound. The ultrasound pulse travels through the body and echoes off the internal organs. These ultrasound echoes are then recorded and displayed as a live image. It is used across a wide range of medical specialties including obstetrics, gynaecology, cardiology, surgery, and gastroenterology. Ultrasound is favoured in these areas as it is a safe and relatively inexpensive imaging method.
The ultrasound has become a standard procedure used during pregnancy. It can demonstrate fetal growth and can detect increasing numbers of conditions in the fetus including meningomyelocele, congenital heart disease, kidney abnormalities, hydrocephalus, anencephaly, club feet, and other deformities. Ultrasound does not produce ionizing radiation and is considered a very safe procedure for both the mother and the fetus.

In contrast to ultrasound imaging of the adult heart, standard ultrasound transducer imaging positions on the maternal abdomen are not possible or available in obstetrical ultrasound imaging due, for example, to variable fetal positions within the uterus. Accordingly, personnel acquiring images of the fetal heart cannot rely on standard transducer positions (e.g., a particular position and/or orientation on the maternal abdomen). Instead, imaging personnel are required to dynamically position the transducer in different positions and/or planes until desired images are acquired. It is due at least in part to this difference in scanning techniques between obstetrical ultrasonography and other ultrasound modalities that makes the former difficult to master.

In order to obtain power spectral information on the fetal heart rate in stages of pregnancy earlier than labor an algorithm has been developed to calculate the fetal heart rate on a beat-to-beat basis from Doppler ultrasound cardiotocographic signals. The algorithm was evaluated by comparing the calculated fetal heart rate with the heart rate determined from direct ECG signals measured with a scalp electrode. Heart rates were compared both in time and frequency domain. In the time domain the results achieved by both methods correlate well (correlation coefficient = 0.977 (p < coefficient =" 0.991">

There are different methods for Fetal weight prediction and all are used in medical science at different levels. Those methods are namely as ultrasound fetal weight estimations using Campbell, Warsof and Hadlock equations, and clinical subjective estimation by experienced obstetricians, as well as clinical objective studies (Zayed’s equation). Experimental results shows that ultrasound equation provides the highest accuracy in predicting fetal weight and Hadlock’s equation was more precise than the other equations. There is still a place for clinical fetal weight estimation, especially if objection methods are used. Doctors and scientist are still working in these field to improve the technology.
Two ultrasound techniques can be combined to develop a safe, non-invasive, transcutaneous method of observing the circulation in the umbilical arteries and vein in the fetus. The umbilical cord can be located by standard echo ultrasound procedures, and this information can be used to direct a Doppler ultrasound beam on to the vessels in the cord. The signals can be heard through audio headphones or recorded on a tape recorded and spectrum-analysed. It should be useful in assessing such conditions as pre-eclampsia and intrauterine growth retardation. Intraplacental color Doppler flow patterns and spectral Doppler flow velocity waveforms of villous arteries in pregnancies with intrauterine growth retardation. Failure to detect intraplacental color Doppler flow signals is associated with intrauterine growth retardation and fetal distress. Flow velocity waveforms of detectable villous arteries are usually normal in intrauterine growth retardation, even in the presence of extremely abnormal umbilical artery flow velocity waveforms. Villous arteries were identified by their intraplacental color Doppler flow image, and flow velocity waveforms were obtained by superimposition of pulse-wave Doppler.
Doppler applications in pregnancy are expanding exponentially. Flow velocity waveforms provide important information 12 weeks to term, from maternal vessels, placental circulation and fetal systemic vessels, with implications for both mother and fetus. As applications proliferate, awareness of the complexity of fetal and placental circulations, in normal pregnancy and in sequential responses to compromise, has also grown. The necessary data are now available to establish core values in Doppler evaluation for at-risk pregnancies. In the compromised intrauterine growth retarded fetus, precordial veins illustrate fetal cardiac function, changing as the respiratory status declines. This Doppler information is combined with biophysical profile scoring to determine the need for and timing of intervention.
Doppler evaluation of at-risk pregnancies provides crucial prognostic and diagnostic detail about placentation and fetal adaptation. What has been research detail is now becoming the standard of care, in comprehensive fetal-maternal assessment.
Ultrasound is mostly used in:
Aorta and inferior vena cava e.g. aortic aneurysm, infiltration of the IVC
Liver, biliary tract and gall bladder e.g. hepatomegaly, liver abscess, abdominal trauma, ascites, metastases/masses in the liver, cholecystitis and/or gallstones.
Spleen e.g. splenomegaly, abdominal trauma, left abdominal mass, lymphoma or leukaemia
Pancreas e.g. malignancy, recurrent chronic pancreatitis, pseudocyst or abscess
Large and small intestine e.g. ascites, abdominal mass, to exclude other conditions in appendicitis, intussuseption and pyloric stenosis in children
Kidneys e.g. polycystic kidneys, renal mass, trauma, abnormally sized kidneys, renal calculi
Urinary bladder e.g. pelvic mass, retention of urine, thickening of the bladder wall, overdistended or small bladder
Reproductive organs e.g. scrotum, testis, ovaries, uterus
Heart e.g. congenital heart anomalies, valvular heart disease, bacterial endocarditis, pericardial effusion, heart muscle disease and intracardiac masses.
Blood vessels e.g. peripheral vascular disease in the deep veins of the leg and carotid vascular disease.

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