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Understanding Ultrasound

Summary & Participants

If you're pregnant -- and even if you're not -- you've probably heard of ultrasound. But do you really know what doctors are looking for when they use it? Join our panel for an expert discussion of this common procedure.

Medically Reviewed On: May 07, 2008

Webcast Transcript

UNJERA JACKSON, MD:  Ultrasounds are used almost routinely in pregnancy.  It is currently, in this country, not the standard of care that an ultrasound must be done in each and every pregnancy, and there are a variety of reasons for that, two of which include access to care or the technology, and another is cost.  There also are, even though very little information indicating that there's any risk whatsoever, that concern does come up also.  However, most obstetricians are offering at least one ultrasound to most of their patients, and aren't just using them for indications.

MARTY MOSS-COANE:  And offering them because it gives them important information on what?  About development, size of the fetus?

UNJERA JACKSON, MD:  There are a number of things that we look for, and it includes both the things that you mentioned and a variety of others.  Depending upon when the ultrasound is done, will determine what we can see and exactly what it is we're looking for.

First trimester ultrasounds are primarily done to determine viability, that is, is there a fetal heart? Is this a normal pregnancy?  Number of fetuses.  Some idea of where the placenta is implanted.  A look at the fluid around the baby.  The cervix, that is the mouth to the womb, of the uterus, as well as to look at the ovaries.  This is primarily what is confirmed at the time of a first-trimester ultrasound.

There are some sophisticated tests or, I should say, pieces of equipment, in some centers, where more information regarding anatomy may be obtained early in the first trimester.  But for the most part, the first trimester ultrasound is to obtain those basic criteria information that I first mentioned.

MARTY MOSS-COANE:  Do you want to do second trimester, and what can be found there?

JOAN ATKIN, MD:  The second trimester ultrasound is the one I'm most interested in, because that's how I examine my patient, which is the fetus.  At that time, and generally we recommend around 19 weeks' gestation, we can look very carefully at all of the organs that have been formed and are still growing and forming.  The idea of a second trimester, what we call targeted ultrasound, is to look very closely to see if there's any abnormalities present.  If there are abnormalities, that's when I become involved.  I try to put them together, as if it were an actual baby, and make a diagnosis.

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