Diagnostic ultrasound, also called sonography or diagnostic medical sonography, is an imaging method that uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images of structures within your body.
Ultrasound is used for many reasons, including to:
- View the uterus and ovaries during pregnancy and monitor the developing baby’s health
- Diagnose gallbladder, thyroid, genital, prostate and metabolic bone issues/diseases
- Evaluate blood flow
- Guide a needle for biopsy or tumor treatment
- Examine a breast lump
- Assess joint inflammation (synovitis)
Diagnostic ultrasound is a safe procedure that uses low-power sound waves. There are no known risks.
Ultrasound is a valuable tool, but it has limitations. Sound doesn’t travel well through air or bone, so ultrasound isn’t effective at imaging body parts that have gas in them or are hidden by bone, such as the lungs or head. To view these areas, your doctor may order other imaging tests, such as CT, MRI scans or X-rays.
A breast ultrasound is most often done to find out if a problem found by a mammogram or physical exam of the breast may be a cyst filled with fluid or a solid tumor, but is not usually done to screen for breast cancer. This is because it may miss some early signs of cancer, such as tiny calcium deposits called microcalcifications.
For me, ultrasounds are the best. They are comfortable and no radiation is involved. Plus, I get to see the screen during the procedure, which I find absolutely fascinating. During one ultrasound, I could see my heart tissue. That was awesome. I also was able to see how very little muscle tissue made up my chest wall. That was not awesome. Seeing the size and shape of the implicated lymph nodes or the tumor is a little nerve wracking. Those areas are solid black, like an area of no life. A bit ironic because the cells are replicating faster, so in reality it is more like life on steroids.