What is Ultrasound?
Also called sonography, this technique uses high-frequency sound waves to view your internal organs. A hand-held transducer transmits the sound energy into your body where they reflect off of your organs to form images that are viewed on state-of-the-art workstations. Safe, painless and free of ionizing radiation, ultrasound is an effective method for evaluating and diagnosing many medical conditions. We may use ultrasound to view your heart, thyroid, breasts, prostate, blood vessels, gallbladder, abdominal organs, pelvis and uterus, even blood clots, blockages, inflammation, stones, fibroids and cysts. Specific types of ultrasound procedures include Doppler studies (illustrate heart beating or blood moving through vessels); Echocardiography (examines the size, shape and function of your heart and surrounding structures); and Transvaginal and Transrectal Ultrasound (employing an internal transducer to provide greater resolution).