This is an commentated animation on how an ultrasound works. It contains mild nudity but in an appropriate fashion.
Ultrasound (Sonogram) History
In the late 1940s, Dr George Ludwig at the Naval Medical Research Institute of Maryland, America used ultrasound on the human body for medical reasons. In 1949, John Wild used ultrasound to see the tissue of the bowel. He was known as the ‘father of medical ultrasound’. On the 29th of October, 1953 in Sweden, Inge Elder and Carl Hertz used ultrasound to produce the first successful measurement of the heart. In the same year on the 16th of December, Elder and Hertz used the same technique on the brain. Ultrasound has been used for decades because of its easy use and how effective it is.
Today
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| A pregant woman using ultrasound to see her baby |
Ultrasound is used for lots of uses today. The most known reason is to look at babies in the womb before they are born. If the parents want to know the ultrasound is able to tell whether the baby is a boy or girl. Ultrasound is also used to produce an image of the person blood. When a person has an ultrasound it is a very simple procedure. A specialist uses a transducer to create high frequency sound waves (that cannot be heard by humans) that goes through the body. If the high frequency sound waves hit a dense part of the body (like bone) the sound waves bounce back to the transducer. A computer is then able to create an image of the inside of the body showing bone and other dense parts of the body as white, less dense parts of the body grey and where there is nothing black.
Future
The future of ultrasound is high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). HIFU will be used a lot in the future. HIFU is mostly the same as normal ultrasound but uses lower frequency and higher energy soundwaves. HIFU will be used for many uses. Some of these uses are that HIFU can break up kidney stones because of its high energy and it has also been proven to stop blood clots. HIFU can create a lot heat. This is the reason that it sometimes used to treat tumours. It is proven that the high heat from HIFU can help against tumour. HIFU is the future of ultrasound and it is a great medical tool.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
· Ultrasound is safe and non radioactive
· Ultrasound can see the inside of the body without surgery
· Ultrasound is cheaper than MRI
· Ultrasound is quick and easy
Cons:
· Ultrasound does not provide the best images
· Ultrasound does not show a 3D image
Bibliography
