Ultrasound Scan Procedure

Ultrasound Scan Overview

An ultrasound scan is a medical test that uses high-frequency sound waves to capture live images from the inside of your body. It’s also known as sonography.

The technology is similar to that used by sonar and radar, which help the military detect planes and ships. An ultrasound allows your doctor to see problems with organs, vessels, and tissues without needing to make an incision.

Unlike other imaging techniques, ultrasound uses no radiation. For this reason, it’s the preferred method for viewing a developing fetus during pregnancy.

Ultrasound scans, or sonography, are safe because they use sound waves or echoes to make an image, instead of radiation. These scans are used to evaluate fetal development, and they can detect problems in the liver, heart, kidney, or abdomen. They may also assist in performing certain types of biopsy.

The image produced is called a sonogram.

Facts on Ultrasound Scans

Concept of Ultrasound Scans

The person who performs an ultrasound scan is called a sonographer, but the images are interpreted by radiologists, cardiologists, or other specialists.

The sonographer usually holds a transducer, a hand-held device, like a wand, which is placed on the patient’s skin.

Ultrasound is sound that travels through soft tissue and fluids, but it bounces back, or echoes, off denser surfaces. This is how it creates an image.

The term “ultrasound” refers to sound with a frequency that humans cannot hear.

For diagnostic uses, the ultrasound is usually between 2 and 18 megahertz (MHz).

Higher frequencies provide better quality images but are more readily absorbed by the skin and other tissue, so they cannot penetrate as deeply as lower frequencies.

Lower frequencies penetrate deeper, but the image quality is inferior.

How Does it Capture an Image?

Ultrasound will travel through blood in the heart chamber, for example, but if it hits a heart valve, it will echo, or bounce back.

It will travel straight through the gallbladder if there are no gallstones, but if there are stones, it will bounce back from them.

The denser the object the ultrasound hits, the more of the ultrasound bounces back.

This bouncing back, or echo, gives the ultrasound image its features. Varying shades of gray reflect different densities.

Ultrasound Transducers

The transducer, or wand, is normally placed on the surface of the patient’s body, but some kinds are placed internally.

These can provide clearer, more informative images.

Examples are:

• An endovaginal transducer, for use in the vagina
• A transesophageal transducer, passed down the patient’s throat for use in the esophagus
• An endorectal transducer, for use in the rectum

Some very small transducers can be placed onto the end of a catheter and inserted into blood vessels to examine the walls of blood vessels.

Why an Ultrasound Scan is Performed?

Most people associate ultrasound scans with pregnancy. These scans can provide an expectant mother with the first view of her unborn child. However, the test has many other uses.

Your doctor may order an ultrasound if you’re having pain, swelling, or other symptoms that require an internal view of your organs. An ultrasound can provide a view of the:

• Blood vessels
• Bladder
• Brain (in infants)
• Eyes
• Gallbladder
• Kidneys
• Liver
• Ovaries
• Pancreas
• Spleen
• Thyroid
• Testicles
• Uterus

An ultrasound is also a helpful way to guide surgeons’ movements during certain medical procedures, such as biopsies.

How to Prepare for an Ultrasound Scan

The steps you will take to prepare for an ultrasound will depend on the area or organ that is being examined.

Your doctor may tell you to fast for eight to 12 hours before your ultrasound, especially if your abdomen is being examined. Undigested food can block the sound waves, making it difficult for the technician to get a clear picture.

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.

It’s important to follow your doctor’s instructions and ask any questions you may have before the procedure.

An ultrasound carries minimal risks. Unlike X-rays or computerized tomography (CT) scan, ultrasounds use no radiation. For this reason, they are the preferred method for examining a developing fetus during pregnancy.

How an Ultrasound Scan is Performed

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.

Depending on the area being examined, you may need to change positions so the technician can have better access.

After the procedure, the gel will be cleaned off of your skin. The whole procedure typically lasts less than 30 minutes, depending on the area being examined. You will be free to go about your normal activities after the procedure has finished.

Uses of Ultrasound Scans

Ultrasound is commonly used for diagnosis, for treatment, and for guidance during procedures such as biopsies.

It can be used to examine internal organs such as the liver and kidneys, the pancreas, the thyroid gland, the testes and the ovaries, and others.

An ultrasound scan can reveal whether a lump is a tumor. This could be cancerous, or a fluid-filled cyst.

It can help diagnose problems with soft tissues, muscles, blood vessels, tendons, and joints. It is used to investigate a frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, and others.

Circulatory Problems

Doppler ultrasound can assess the flow of blood in a vessel or blood pressure. It can determine the speed of the blood flow and any obstructions.

An echocardiogram (ECG) is an example of Doppler ultrasound. It can be used to create images of the cardiovascular system and to measure blood flow and cardiac tissue movement at specific points.

A Doppler ultrasound can assess the function and state of cardiac valve areas, any abnormalities in the heart, valvular regurgitation, or blood leaking from valves, and it can show how well the heart pumps out blood.

It can also be used to:

• Assess for blockages or narrowing of arteries
• Check fetal heart and heartbeat
• Examine the walls of blood vessels
• Check for an aneurysm or DVT
• Evaluate for plaque buildup and clots

A carotid duplex is a form of carotid ultrasonography that may include a Doppler ultrasound. This would reveal how blood cells move through the carotid arteries.

Ultrasound in Anesthesiology

Ultrasound is often used by anesthetists to guide a needle with anesthetic solutions near nerves. An ultrasound can be done at a doctor’s office, at an outpatient clinic, or in the hospital.

Most scans take between 20 and 60 minutes. It is not normally painful, and there is no noise. In most cases, no special preparation is needed, but patients may wish to wear loose-fitting and comfortable clothing.

If the liver or gallbladder is affected, the patient may have to fast, or eat nothing, for several hours before the procedure.

For a scan during pregnancy, and especially early pregnancy, the patient should drink plenty of water and try to avoid urinating for some time before the test.

When the bladder is full, the scan produces a better image of the uterus.

The scan usually takes place in the radiology department of a hospital. A doctor or a specially-trained sonographer will carry out the test.

External Ultrasound

The sonographer puts a lubricating gel onto the patient’s skin and places a transducer over the lubricated skin.

The transducer is moved over the part of the body that needs to be examined. Examples include ultrasound examinations of a patient’s heart or a fetus in the uterus.

The patient should not feel discomfort or pain. They will just feel the transducer over the skin.

During pregnancy, there may be slight discomfort because of the full bladder.

Internal Ultrasound

If the internal reproductive organs or urinary system need to be evaluated, the transducer may be placed in the rectum for a man or in the vagina for a woman.

To evaluate some part of the digestive system, for example, the esophagus, the chest lymph nodes, or the stomach, an endoscope may be used.

A light and an ultrasound device are attached to the end of the endoscope, which inserted into the patient’s body, usually through the mouth.

Before the procedure, patients are given medications to reduce any pain. Internal ultrasound scans are less comfortable than external ones, and there is a slight risk of internal bleeding.

During the Ultrasound Scan Procedure

Gel is applied to your skin over the area being examined. It helps prevent air pockets, which can block the sound waves that create the images. This safe, water-based gel is easy to remove from skin and, if needed, clothing.

A trained technician (sonographer) presses a small, hand-held device (transducer) against the area being studied and moves it as needed to capture the images. The transducer sends sound waves into your body, collects the ones that bounce back and sends them to a computer, which creates the images.

Sometimes, ultrasounds are done inside your body. In this case, the transducer is attached to a probe that’s inserted into a natural opening in your body. Examples include:

• Transesophageal echocardiogram: A transducer, inserted into the esophagus, obtains heart images. It’s usually done while under sedation.
• Transrectal ultrasound: This test creates images of the prostate by placing a special transducer into the rectum.
• Transvaginal ultrasound: A special transducer is gently inserted into the vagina to look at the uterus and ovaries.

Ultrasound is usually painless. However, you may experience mild discomfort as the sonographer guides the transducer over your body, especially if you’re required to have a full bladder, or inserts it into your body.

A typical ultrasound exam takes from 30 minutes to an hour.

Results of an Ultrasound Scan

When your exam is complete, a doctor trained to interpret imaging studies (radiologist) analyzes the images and sends a report to your doctor. Your doctor will share the results with you.

You should be able to return to normal activities immediately after an ultrasound.

After an Ultrasound Scan

Following the exam, your doctor will review the images and check for any abnormalities. They will call you to discuss the findings, or to schedule a follow-up appointment.

Should anything abnormal turn up on the ultrasound, you may need to undergo other diagnostic techniques, such as a CT scan, MRI, or a biopsy sample of tissue depending on the area examined.

Safety of Ultrasound Scans

Most types of ultrasound are noninvasive, and they involve no ionizing radiation exposure. The procedure is believed to be very safe.

However, since the long-term risks are not established, unnecessary “keepsake” scans during pregnancy are not encouraged. Ultrasound during pregnancy is recommended only when medically needed.

Anyone who is allergic to latex should inform their doctor so that they will not use a latex-covered probe.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Samples available include cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma, cancer, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types.

Our biobank procures and stores fully consented, deidentified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.

All our human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

This critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Patient’s data is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, and other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples, including cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

Including fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as serum, plasma and PBMC.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Types of Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

• Peripheral whole-blood
• Amniotic fluid
• Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL)
• Sputum
• Pleural effusion
• Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
• Serum (sera)
• Plasma
• Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)
• Saliva
• Buffy coat
• Urine
• Stool samples
• Aqueous humor
• Vitreous humor
• Kidney stones (renal calculi)
• Other bodily fluids from most diseases including cancer.

We can also procure most human bio-specimens, special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasma, serum, and PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols; you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.

• 日本のお客様は、ベイバイオサイエンスジャパンBay Biosciences Japanまたはhttp://baybiosciences-jp.com/contact/までご連絡ください。