Medical ultrasound. BY VASILKINA EKATERINA

Medical ultrasound (also known as diagnostic sonography or ultrasonography) is a diagnostic imaging technique based on the application of ultrasound. It is used to create an image of internal body structures such as tendons, muscles, joints, blood vessels, and internal organs. Its aim is often to find a source of a disease or to exclude pathology.

Concept. The person who performs an ultrasound scan is called a sonographer, but the images are interpreted by radiologists, cardiologists, or other specialists. The sonographer usually holds a transducer, a hand-held device, like a wand, which is placed on the patient's skin. Ultrasound is sound that travels through soft tissue and fluids, but it bounces back, or echoes, off denser surfaces. This is how it creates an image.

How does it capture an image? Ultrasound will travel through blood in the heart chamber, for example, but if it hits a heart valve, it will echo, or bounce back. It will travel straight through the gallbladder if there are no gallstones, but if there are stones, it will bounce back from them. The denser the object the ultrasound hits, the more of the ultrasound bounces back. This bouncing back, or echo, gives the ultrasound image its features. Varying shades of gray reflect different densities.

Uses. Ultrasound images are made from reflected sound, and a diagnosis can then be made. Ultrasound is commonly used for diagnosis, for treatment, and for guidance during procedures such as biopsies. It can be used to examine internal organs such as the liver and kidneys, the pancreas, the thyroid gland, the testes and the ovaries, and others. An ultrasound scan can reveal whether a lump is a tumor. This could be cancerous, or a fluid-filled cyst. It can help diagnose problems with soft tissues, muscles, blood vessels, tendons, and joints. It is used to investigate a frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, and others.