[Rosario]

Is there evidence that ultrasounds can harm the baby in any way, or even just be unpleasant for them? If an ultrasound is a high frequency sound wave and babies are believed to experience synesthesia (blending of senses) in the womb, how do we know they are not also able to "hear" sounds that we can't?

[fawnanddoe]

I have heard conflicting sides of this story. While I don't think that ultrasounds are truly that harmful (my midwife told me that an ultrasound was like standing next to your refrigerator for 5 minutes), I also think that any kind of device that uses electricity and sound waves COULD have some kind of effect on the baby.
I had an ultrasound during my pregnancy, and I would have another one! They are not, however, completely necessary (they haven't been around forever!) and not completely accurate at all.

[Mommyto3bugs]

I think that they are fine when needed, but I wouldn't schedule one every week unless needed, because you never know.

[Miracle Within]

I am a Registered Sonographer and just thought I would comment on your question.

Extensive studies over 35 years have found that ultrasound has not shown to cause any harm to mother or baby. Routine scanning of all pregnancies is now normal throughout the United States. Ultrasound is above human hearing hence the name "ultra". The baby does not hear or feel anything. They do feel us poke on them and the movement and pressure of the probe on the belly. If your session is performed by a registered diagnostic medical sonographer then there is no need to worry about safety. They know to make sure the machine settings are set at safe power levels and other tricks to make sure to keep you and your baby safe. There are so many things are that detected on ultrasound to make your screening so beneficial to you and your doctor.

Hope this helped.
Krystal

[journeybirth]

Sarah Buckley and Marsden Wagner have both written great articles about ultrasound use in pregnancy. I personally am not a fan of them, but they have their place. I had a u/s at 41 weeks with my last because I was in a serious car accident - made sense to me since if it had shown something was wrong I would have had a baby kwim? Sarah Buckley's article is here: Ultrasound Scans- cause for concern and Marsden Wagner's article is here:
Ultrasound: More Harm than Good? - by Marsden Wagner

[ClarissaNassar]

I have heard to just have as few as necessary--so I think I had maybe 3 the entire pregnancy-the initial one, the one to find out what the sex was and then one more because my sons head was all up in my ribs and it was KILLING ME {ok that was drama but it hurt realllly bad}

[Chelziee]

I dont know much about it, and personally dont care to read the bad about them. I think it is important to be prepared for your baby, and sometimes that means taking a peek to confirm or dismiss certain illness and even detect if you have healthy fluid levels during your pregnancy. all in all I feel that there is more good than could be harm... I feel all of the "harmful" claims are slightly misinformed and or uneducated about all of the benifits from ultra sounds.
Good Luck!
-Chelsey

[saimalexander]

Medical ultrasound is a technique that has been used since the late 1950s, whereby sound waves are used to detect and visualize subcutaneous (below the skin) body structures such as bones, muscles and internal organs. Note that in contrast to the harmful electromagnetic radiation that is employed with x-ray imaging, ultrasounds use sounds equivalent to about a dozen octaves higher than middle C.

In the last 40 years, no conclusive evidence has shown that the levels of ultrasound used on humans are harmful. This absolutely and definitely applies to the mother. (If there is any concern from individual medical professionals or institutions it is in regard to the safety of the baby).

The world health Organization [1] supports that ultrasound is harmless: "Diagnostic ultrasound is recognized as a safe, effective, and highly flexible imaging modality capable of providing clinically relevant information about most parts of the body in a rapid and cost-effective fashion".

For example, a Cincinnati research team recently reported finding no hazard of birth defects in baby rats exposed to ultrasound in the womb. And in a study of humans, a Norwegian team has found no link between in utero ultrasound exposure and the development of learning disabilities later in life.

Yet animal studies on this subject have yielded mixed results. However, animal studies provide clues to ultrasound's effect on tissues, but they can also pose some logistical challenges. For example, scientists often anesthetized pregnant rats in order to conduct experimental ultrasound tests. But this raised the question of whether it was the ultrasound or the anesthesia that caused any birth defects observed in the rats' offspring.

Most doctors and scientists agree that it's extremely unlikely that scans can cause any harm, and that the benefits from serial scans in monitoring pregnancies outweigh any potential risks. The interesting flip-side of this argument, is that it has been cited that perhaps one of the biggest risks of ultrasound is the chance of identifying something "outside the normal range" with the baby and the inevitable invasive tests, such as amniocentesis that result. More often than not, these "unusual" findings either resolve on their own or turn out to be normal by the time the baby is born.

Your are right in saying that during any ultrasound scan some heat is generated and is absorbed by the part of the body being scanned. The scans you have while you're pregnant produce less than one degree centigrade. They are therefore fine for you and your baby. It is only if the temperature of the scanned body tissue rises by four degrees centigrade, say, from 36 degrees to 40 degrees, that it could be harmful. This issue is most relevant if you (or your baby) have a fever.

Most prenatal ultrasound procedures are performed topically, or on the surface of the skin, using a gel as a conductive medium to aid in the quality of the image. However, a transvaginal ultrasound is an alternative procedure performed using a tubular probe that is inserted into the vaginal canal. This method of ultrasound produces an image quality that is greatly enhanced, but due to its invasive nature has a significantly higher risk. Also, a Doppler ultrasound which indicates blood flow, is also becoming increasingly common, but is not as well researched.

Obstetric ultrasound can be used to identify many conditions that would be harmful to the mother and the baby. Many health care professionals consider the risk of leaving these conditions undiagnosed to be much greater than the very small risk, if any, associated with undergoing an ultrasound scan.

Ultrasound technology has been applied in obstetrics since the late 1950s and early 1960s. However, today ultrasound is offered to almost all expectant mothers, several times throughout the pregnancy period (many having an ultrasound each time they visit). Further, through advanced techniques such as Doppler Ultrasounds and 3D/4D ultrasounds, are contributing to longer periods of exposure. These compounding factors of increased frequency and prolonged exposure, significantly increase the risk that ultrasounds may, if used beyond medical purposes, may unduly increase the risk of harm to the baby.

Therefore, for all these reasons the guidelines are:
* ultrasound examination in pregnancy should be performed for a specific medical indication (American National Institute for Health)
* scans should only be done by fully trained staff who know how to perform the scan safely
* Doppler, particularly with a vaginal probe, should not be used in the early weeks when your baby is still developing, and should be short in duration
* The scan should be very brief if you have a fever.

Selected Sources:
[1] World Health Organizations technical report series 875(1998).
[2] Haar and Duck 2000

[noel0077]

Originally Posted by saimalexander

Medical ultrasound is a technique that has been used since the late 1950s, whereby sound waves are used to detect and visualize subcutaneous (below the skin) body structures such as bones, muscles and internal organs. Note that in contrast to the harmful electromagnetic radiation that is employed with x-ray imaging, ultrasounds use sounds equivalent to about a dozen octaves higher than middle C.

In the last 40 years, no conclusive evidence has shown that the levels of ultrasound used on humans are harmful. This absolutely and definitely applies to the mother. (If there is any concern from individual medical professionals or institutions it is in regard to the safety of the baby).

The world health Organization [1] supports that ultrasound is harmless: "Diagnostic ultrasound is recognized as a safe, effective, and highly flexible imaging modality capable of providing clinically relevant information about most parts of the body in a rapid and cost-effective fashion".

For example, a Cincinnati research team recently reported finding no hazard of birth defects in baby rats exposed to ultrasound in the womb. And in a study of humans, a Norwegian team has found no link between in utero ultrasound exposure and the development of learning disabilities later in life.

Yet animal studies on this subject have yielded mixed results. However, animal studies provide clues to ultrasound's effect on tissues, but they can also pose some logistical challenges. For example, scientists often anesthetized pregnant rats in order to conduct experimental ultrasound tests. But this raised the question of whether it was the ultrasound or the anesthesia that caused any birth defects observed in the rats' offspring.

Most doctors and scientists agree that it's extremely unlikely that scans can cause any harm, and that the benefits from serial scans in monitoring pregnancies outweigh any potential risks. The interesting flip-side of this argument, is that it has been cited that perhaps one of the biggest risks of ultrasound is the chance of identifying something "outside the normal range" with the baby and the inevitable invasive tests, such as amniocentesis that result. More often than not, these "unusual" findings either resolve on their own or turn out to be normal by the time the baby is born.

Your are right in saying that during any ultrasound scan some heat is generated and is absorbed by the part of the body being scanned. The scans you have while you're pregnant produce less than one degree centigrade. They are therefore fine for you and your baby. It is only if the temperature of the scanned body tissue rises by four degrees centigrade, say, from 36 degrees to 40 degrees, that it could be harmful. This issue is most relevant if you (or your baby) have a fever.

Most prenatal ultrasound procedures are performed topically, or on the surface of the skin, using a gel as a conductive medium to aid in the quality of the image. However, a transvaginal ultrasound is an alternative procedure performed using a tubular probe that is inserted into the vaginal canal. This method of ultrasound produces an image quality that is greatly enhanced, but due to its invasive nature has a significantly higher risk. Also, a Doppler ultrasound which indicates blood flow, is also becoming increasingly common, but is not as well researched.

Obstetric ultrasound can be used to identify many conditions that would be harmful to the mother and the baby. Many health care professionals consider the risk of leaving these conditions undiagnosed to be much greater than the very small risk, if any, associated with undergoing an ultrasound scan.

Ultrasound technology has been applied in obstetrics since the late 1950s and early 1960s. However, today ultrasound is offered to almost all expectant mothers, several times throughout the pregnancy period (many having an ultrasound each time they visit). Further, through advanced techniques such as Doppler Ultrasounds and 3D/4D ultrasounds, are contributing to longer periods of exposure. These compounding factors of increased frequency and prolonged exposure, significantly increase the risk that ultrasounds may, if used beyond medical purposes, may unduly increase the risk of harm to the baby.

Therefore, for all these reasons the guidelines are:
* ultrasound examination in pregnancy should be performed for a specific medical indication (American National Institute for Health)
* scans should only be done by fully trained staff who know how to perform the scan safely
* Doppler, particularly with a vaginal probe, should not be used in the early weeks when your baby is still developing, and should be short in duration
* The scan should be very brief if you have a fever.

Selected Sources:
[1] World Health Organizations technical report series 875(1998).
[2] Haar and Duck 2000

Thanks for sharing this information with us. I really don't know that much.