Ultrasound training is necessary for people who wish to work as diagnostic medical sonographers or vascular technologists, health occupations that involve the use of the ultrasound machine. Because ultrasound equipment uses sophisticated...
The American Pregnancy website claims Down syndrome (Trisomy 21) is the most common birth defect in the United States. Caused by an extra copy of chromosome number 21, there are a handful of symptoms usually identified during the course of routine...
Experiencing fetal demise, or a death after 20 weeks gestation, is an acutely painful experience. Not only do you lose the baby, but you lose the hopes and dreams that you planned for upon finding out about your pregnancy. The five stages of...
Infertility patients often start treatment with their obstetrician or gynecologist but move on to treatment by doctors with a specific interest in infertility. These doctors are usually, but not always, doctors with a background in OB/GYN...
The heart is one of the earliest developing organs in a new baby, and hearing that tiny heartbeat is one of the first pregnancy memories for many new parents. During pregnancy, a baby's heart goes through many changes during development that...
An ultrasound machine uses sound waves in the range of 3.5 to 7.0 megahertz to image internal structures. Ultrasound, also known as sonography, can be used for diagnosis, to provide visualization in real time during surgery and to look at a fetus...
When nursing student Darcy Chenowith graduated last fall, she knew she would not have any trouble finding a job.
Formerly an administrative employee with the federal government, Chenowith wanted a more meaningful career path. She...
Ultrasound imaging is also known as sonography or ultrasound scanning. Ultrasound is a way of looking at structures within the body without using X-rays or other potentially damaging substances. Ultrasound uses high frequency sound waves, which...
Ultrasound imaging uses high-frequency sound waves to produce an image of the unborn baby. During the ultrasound, the technician measures details of the baby including the size of the head, abdomen and upper leg bone or femur. An estimate of the...
Ultrasonography is a technique in which high frequency sound waves, or ultrasound, is focused on a target object, allowing the underlying structures to be visualized through analysis of the reflected sound waves. The medical field widely uses this...
Ultrasound equipment is used to image internal structures and organs by bouncing sound waves off of these tissues and using a computer to interpret and present the results. A trained ultrasound technician, or sonographer, can read these images and...
Expecting a baby is exciting for many parents. The thought of either bringing your first child into the world or adding another child to your family can be overwhelming and emotional. With today's technology, it is often possible to determine...
An echocardiogram is a test in which sound waves are used to create a video of the heart, according to the online medical encyclopedia MedlinePlus. Because sound waves, rather than x-rays, are used to create the images of the heart, the body is...
Parents once had to rely exclusively upon old wives tales regarding the size and shape of a mom-to-be's belly or her degree of morning sickness to give them clues to their unborn baby's gender. Modern science allows many parents to find out the...
At six weeks, some doctors perform a sonogram, also called an ultrasound, to determine the health or viability of the developing embryo. This is generally the earliest that anything is visible on an ultrasound, although at this point it will not...
Doctors use sonograms, also called ultrasounds, to check fetal growth, to search for abnormalities and to determine whether the child is a boy or girl. A machine bounces sound waves off the developing baby and interprets those waves as a visual...
An echocardiogram is a test that examines the internal structures of the heart. It is a painless procedure, which uses a probe that emits sound waves into the chest. These sound waves are high-frequency and bounce off internal structures, giving...
The kidneys start to grow during the first month of fetal development. These organs produce urine and maintain normal levels of electrolytes and fluids in the body. Kidney problems that occur during fetal development could lead to complications...
Many women are choosing to have a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound in addition to the one that their obstetrician performs routinely. Because 3D ultrasound images show more detail of the developing baby, mothers want these so they can get photos...
An integral part of the digestive system, the pancreas produces enzymes for digestion and insulin for glucose, or sugar, breakdown, according to Jackson Siegelbaum Gastroenterology in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Diseases of the pancreas can destroy...
An echocardiogram uses sound waves to assess the heart's function and structures in a noninvasive way. A trained sonographer places a transducer on the chest at certain locations and angles, which sends ultrasonic sound waves through the skin and...
An echocardiogram is a type of imaging technology that enables health-care providers to take pictures of the heart for diagnostic reasons. The echocardiogram utilizes sound waves to produce visual images of how the heart is functioning. Your child...
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment for X-ray technicians is expected to grow faster than other occupations through at least 2016. Jobs will be abundant primarily in hospitals, though other facilities, such as...
A sonogram remains a useful tool that does not require radiation to take an internal picture of the body. An ultrasound machine contains a transducer, a television display panel and regulation buttons for control within a test, Cancer.org...
The spleen is the organ responsible for storing blood, disposing of old blood cells, and producing lymphocytes. A splenic infarction is the necrosis of splenic tissue caused by impaired blood flow to the spleen, according to "Splenic Infarction...
An echocardiogram is a graphic outline of the heart's movement, valves and chambers. During the transesophageal echocardiogram, or TEE test, an ultrasound transducer, a device that produces high frequency sound waves, is placed on the end of an...
Seeing their unborn child's face for the first time on an ultrasound screen is an event many pregnant mothers anticipate eagerly. Ultrasound technology is an innovation that allows physicians to monitor fetal and maternal health and diagnose...
With the advent of 3D ultrasound technology for use during pregnancy, parents-to-be and their doctors can view the unborn baby in more detail than ever before. Instead of a flat black-and-white two-dimensional scan, 3D ultrasound provides a...
After you confirm your pregnancy, you might begin to wonder whether your baby is a boy or girl. Although you can often find out via scientific methods somewhere in the second trimester---usually between 12 and 20 weeks---several myths and folk...
