{"id":1178,"date":"2018-12-18T01:58:42","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T17:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/?p=1178"},"modified":"2018-12-18T01:58:42","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T17:58:42","slug":"how-ultrasound-imaging-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/?p=1178","title":{"rendered":"How Ultrasound Imaging Works"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/salem-blog-image.png\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"blog-inline-image alignnone wp-image-1190 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/salem-blog-image.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"501\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For most people, the term \u201cultrasound\u201d conjures up the image of excited new parents seeing images of their baby while it\u2019s still inside the mother\u2019s uterus. The truth is, though, ultrasound is an important tool that helps doctors see what\u2019s happening inside a person\u2019s body. While it\u2019s used in pregnancy, it also has a wide range of other uses, including diagnosis, visualization, and even therapy for certain conditions.\u00a0If your doctor has ordered an ultrasound, here\u2019s what you need to know.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Ultrasound\u00a0imaging\u00a0works by\u00a0using sound waves.<\/b>\u00a0Through a small transducer placed directly on the skin, the ultrasound\u00a0transmits high-frequency sound waves into the body. The sounds that bounce back are collected by the transducer and used to create an image\u00a0of the body\u2019s internal organs in real time.<\/li>\n<li><b>There are different types of ultrasounds.<\/b>\u00a0Traditional ultrasounds show images in thin, flat\u00a0sections\u00a0of the body, while\u00a0three-dimensional\u00a0ultrasounds format sound waves into 3-D images.\u00a0Doppler ultrasounds, also known as Doppler ultrasonography, allow doctors to see blood flow through arteries and veins.\u00a0There are three different types of Doppler ultrasounds: color Doppler, which shows the speed and direction of blood flow by using different colors, power Doppler, which is more sensitive than color Doppler but doesn\u2019t show the direction of blood flow, and spectral Doppler, which shows blood flow graphically instead of in a color picture. Spectral Doppler ultrasounds can also convert blood flow information into sound.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><b>Ultrasound\u00a0technology\u00a0is non-invasive.<\/b>\u00a0It doesn\u2019t require needles or\u00a0incisions\u00a0and doesn\u2019t expose patients to radiation the way X-rays and CT scans do.\u00a0Ultrasounds are painless and have no known harmful effects. They\u2019re also less expensive than many other types of imaging.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><b>Ultrasounds are\u00a0extremely useful.<\/b> They can be used to examine the heart and blood vessels, liver, gallbladder, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, bladder, uterus, ovaries, thyroid glands, scrotum, and even babies in utero.\u00a0In addition to diagnostic use, ultrasound imaging can help guide doctors during procedures like needle biopsies and biopsy of breast cancer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><b>To prepare for an ultrasound,\u00a0there\u2019s not much you need to do.<\/b>\u00a0For some\u00a0scans, you may be asked not to eat or drink for\u00a0twelve\u00a0hours before your appointment. Sometimes, a doctor will request that the patient drink six\u00a0to eight\u00a0glasses of water two hours before the procedure, and avoid urinating to\u00a0ensure that the bladder will\u00a0be\u00a0full.\u00a0Your doctor will give you specific instructions for your type of ultrasound.\u00a0The exam usually only takes thirty minutes to an hour.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you need\u00a0ultrasound imaging\u00a0or other diagnostic screening, Salem Radiology can help. Established in 1974, we are the largest radiology group in the\u00a0area\u00a0and offer a depth of specialization among our doctors that you would expect to find only at major university medical centers. To learn more or schedule an appointment, call\u00a0(503) 399-1262 or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.net\/contact\/\">contact us<\/a>\u00a0through our website.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For most people, the term \u201cultrasound\u201d conjures up the image of excited new parents seeing images of their baby while it\u2019s still inside the mother\u2019s uterus. The truth is, though, ultrasound is an important tool that helps doctors see what\u2019s happening inside a person\u2019s body. While it\u2019s used in pregnancy, it also has a wide [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salemradiology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}