Ultrasonography

Ultrasound, like radiology, offers a noninvasive method for evaluation and diagnosis of many soft tissue disorders. It works by sending sound waves out from special crystals in the handpiece or probe. These waves penetrate tissues and then either bounce back toward the probe where they are picked up and evaluated by a computer that determines how much of the sound returned or they continue through the tissue and do not return to the probe. Different types of tissues absorb different amounts of the sound wave, so we can differentiate what tissue we are examining by the amount of sound waves it returns. Fluids allow most sound waves to pass through so they appear black on the screen (no sounds waves returned) while bone allows no waves to penetrate it (all sound waves return) so it appears white on the screen. In this way ultrasound can be used to evaluate all the abdominal organs, heart, lungs, skin, eyeball, and mammary glands. The reproductive tract of both the male and female are also commonly examined using ultrasonography. We are very fortunate to have a state of the art ultrasound machine that is used on a daily basis for evaluation of many different types of conditions.