ultrasound

Examples of ultrasound in the following topics:

• Applications: Ultrasound, Sonar, and Medical Imaging

  • Ultrasound is sound with a frequency higher than 20 kHz.
  • The most common use of ultrasound, creating images, has industrial and medical applications.
  • The use of ultrasound to create images is based on the reflection and transmission of a wave at a boundary.
  • When an ultrasound wave travels inside an object that is made up of different materials (such as the human body), each time it encounters a boundary (e.g., between bone and muscle, or muscle and fat), part of the wave is reflected and part of it is transmitted.
  • Ultrasound waves are sent out then reflected off the objects around the animal.

• Early Pregnancy Tests

  • Ultrasound is also a common tool for determining viability.
  • Diagnosis should not be made from a single ultrasound, however.
  • If results from the first ultrasound scan indicate a problem, repeating the scan 7–10 days later is a reasonable practice.

• Spina Bifida

  • Neural tube defects can usually be detected during pregnancy by testing the mother's blood (AFP screening) or by a detailed fetal ultrasound.
  • Ultrasound screening for spina bifida is partly responsible for the decline in new cases because many pregnancies are terminated out of fear that a newborn might have a poor future quality of life.

• Prenatal Diagnostic Tests

  • The primary method for sex determination is prenatal ultrasound.
  • In the case of neural tube defects, a detailed ultrasound can noninvasively provide a definitive diagnosis.
  • At about 6 weeks of pregnancy, early dating ultrasound scan may be offered to help confirm the gestational age of the embryo and check if a single or twin pregnancy exists, but such a scan is unable to detect common abnormalities.
  • The results of the blood tests are then combined with the NT ultrasound measurements, maternal age, and gestational age of the fetus to yield a risk score for Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Trisomy 13.

• Energy, Intensity, Frequency, and Amplitude

  • For example, the longer deep-heat ultrasound is applied, the more energy it transfers.

• Characteristics of Sound

  • Ultrasound uses sound waves with high frequencies to see things normally hard to detect, like tumors.
  • Animals, like bats and dolphins, use ultrasound (echolocation) to navigate and locate things.

• Introduction to Pregnancy and Human Development

  • Ultrasound is used to monitor the age and health of the fetus during pregnancy.

• Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)

  • Different tests can be used for diagnosis such as pelvic ultrasound and laboratory tests for STIs.

• Sound

  • Those frequencies above the human range are called ultrasound.

• Yolk Sac Development

  • It is a critical landmark, identifying a true gestation sac, and is reliably seen in early pregnancy through ultrasound.