Sonography
Diagnostic ultrasound, also called sonography or diagnostic medical sonography, is an imaging method that uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images of structures within your body. The images can provide valuable information for diagnosing and treating a variety of diseases and conditions.
Why it’s done
Ultrasound is used for many reasons, including:
- View the uterus and ovaries during pregnancy and monitor the developing baby’s health
- Diagnose gallbladder disease
- Evaluate blood flow
- Guide a needle for biopsy or tumor treatment
- Examine a breast lump
- Check your thyroid gland
- Detect genital and prostate problems
- Assess joint inflammation (synovitis)
- Evaluate metabolic bone disease
Purpose of Test :
A sonogram image can show the sizes and shapes of structures, good and bad, inside the body. The harder and denser the tissue (bone would be the hardest and densest) the more it bounces sound waves back to the transducer and the brighter the resulting image becomes.
A sonogram is most commonly used to monitor the development of the uterus and fetus during pregnancy. It can also be used to evaluate glands, breast lumps, joint conditions, bone disease, testicular lumps, or to guide needles during biopsies.
Sonography can also recognize blood or fluid flow. The computer can especially recognize fluid that is flowing toward or away from the transducer and uses color overlays on the image to show direction of flow. Very hard and dense tissues or empty spaces, such as organs filled with gas, do not conduct ultrasound waves and therefore cannot be viewed on a sonogram.
Dr. Omkar S. Thopte
MD (Medicine), DNB (Cardiology) Fellow Interventional Cardiology (Sri Sathya Sai Institute, Banglore-Cleveland Clinic, USA)
