Ultrasound diagnostics is an important tool for doctors in the management of any pregnancy. This method allows you to obtain a large amount of information about the baby's condition, about his development and growth, make sure that he has no pathologies, and also find out if everything is in order with the reproductive health of the mother.
For expectant mothers, according to experienced obstetricians, ultrasound is the best medicine, because each such "meeting" with a baby raises spirits and even improves health.
How often you can do an ultrasound scan during the period of bearing a baby, we will tell you in this material.
Method essence
Ultrasound, also called sonography, is a gentle, non-invasive examination method in which ultrasound waves help to examine the internal organs of the human body.
The devices used for research are equipped with ultrasonic wave generators. These waves pass through tissues and liquids of different density and consistency at different speeds. Tissues tend to inhibit the penetration of ultrasound.
Waves, colliding with liquids, easily pass through them, and colliding with tissues and organs, they are reflected at different speeds, which depends on the density of the tissues. So the signal sent by the sensor is returned back to the sensor and transformed into a picture. This is how the image appears on the scanner monitor.
The devices themselves are different - both entry-level and expert class. Diagnostic doctors are also different., whose task is to decode and measure the image seen on the monitor. Ultrasound diagnostics is no longer considered an exotic method, it is carried out everywhere. During pregnancy, ultrasound helps in solving a variety of medical problems.
Types of ultrasound during pregnancy
Various types of ultrasound diagnostics are used in the management of pregnancy. It all depends on the specific purpose of the study and the circumstances.
The main types of research are:
Intravaginal (transvaginal)
This method of obtaining information is popularly called simply - internal ultrasound. An oblong vaginal probe is used for examination. The examination is carried out through a relatively thin vaginal wall. Such a study is used when it is necessary to examine the pelvic organs of a woman., identify any gynecological problems.
During pregnancy, an examination is carried out in this way when diagnosing an "interesting position" in the early stages and with the threat of miscarriage, in order to better assess the condition of the internal genital organs of the expectant mother.
Transvaginal ultrasound will also be performed on women who are overweight and have different volumes of fatty deposits on the abdomen, which make visualization difficult, at a later stage of pregnancy.
Transabdominal
Doctors use this method in the second and third trimester of pregnancy, as well as before and after childbirth. An ultrasonic wave sensor is placed on the outer wall of the peritoneum, after having lubricated the abdomen with a special gel, which ensures a tighter contact between the sensor and the skin at the molecular level.
In the early stages, such an examination is impractical, since the uterus is not filled with a liquid that conducts a wave, it is much easier to assess the condition through the vaginal wall.
As the child grows, the amount of amniotic fluid increases, which is an excellent medium for conducting ultrasound waves.
3D
This is a modern method that has gained wide popularity among doctors, and, especially, among future parents who such a study makes it possible to see an unborn baby in all its glory and even understand who he looks more like - like mom or dad.
In fact, such an ultrasound does not differ from a standard two-dimensional, only the sensor is different, which forms on the screen not a flat two-dimensional, but a three-dimensional three-dimensional image.
Such an ultrasound scan is best done for a period of 20 weeks, since it is after this period that the child is clearly visible, his facial features are formed, there are no difficulties in determining his gender.
4D
This is an even more modern method that allows you not only to obtain an image, as with a two-dimensional equivalent, and not only to obtain it in volume, as is done in 3D diagnostics, but also see not just a static picture, but a baby in real time... That is, to all the characteristics of ultrasound diagnostics, another important parameter is added - time.
As a result parents can get not only a beautiful picture of the baby in the family album, but also a video - a small film about the intrauterine life of a son or daughter.
Such a "movie" will be a good gift for the child himself, for example, for his majority.
5D
This is an innovative development that is already beginning to be actively introduced into medical practice. Special 5D scanners can do research in any format - two-dimensional, three-dimensional, four-dimensional. The difference is that the image will not only be 3D with real-time movement, but the program itself will measure the main indicators - the length of the bones, TVP, etc.
This is convenient for clarifying the data, for diagnostics in the event that the baby is located in the uterus so that a conventional two-dimensional sensor cannot show some parts of his body. 5D in this case it will show and measure with great accuracy.
UZDG
This is a conventional 2D or 3D ultrasound, which determines the speed of blood flow through the uterine vessels, measuring the placenta and studying its structure... Popularly, this diagnosis is called "Doppler ultrasound", and such a study is prescribed from about 20-22 weeks of pregnancy, when the placenta is already well developed. The research is carried out as usual, two-dimensional, there are no differences in the technique of execution.
Doppler ultrasonography is used when there is a suspicion of a violation of the uteroplacental blood flow, malformations of the baby, hypoxia, fetoplacental insufficiency or developmental delay of the baby.
All women at least once during pregnancy, such an examination is prescribed... Some people do it more often if the pregnancy is problematic and there are concerns about the child's condition.
Terms of mandatory diagnostics
Mandatory ultrasound during pregnancy can be considered only conditionally. The Russian Ministry of Health recommends that expectant mothers conduct such studies, and therefore they are considered planned.
A woman has the right to refuse to undergo an ultrasound scan at any time without explaining the reasons... But before making such a decision, one should carefully weigh all the possible risks, because the refusal from ultrasound is the inability to establish whether the baby is developing correctly, whether he has gross anomalies.
During the period of bearing a child, a healthy woman with an unburdened history is shown three planned studies.
In the first trimester
Ultrasound is performed as part of the first prenatal screening, aimed at identifying the risks of having a child with gross genetic and chromosomal abnormalities. In addition to scanning, the woman will have to donate blood from a vein for biochemical analysis.
Ultrasound scan held from 10 to 13 weeks... It allows you to see some of the signs (doctors call them "markers") of probable defects, such as Down syndrome, Patau's disease, Turner syndrome, Cornelia de Lange syndrome and various pathologies of the brain and spinal cord (neural tube).
In the second trimester
A mid-pregnancy ultrasound is part of the second prenatal screening, which also includes a blood test and ultrasound. The tasks of screening are the same - the search for markers of probable pathologies.
In addition, the second planned study assesses the rate of development of the baby and the characteristics of pregnancy. Such a survey is being carried out for a period from 18 to 21 weeks.
In the third trimester
The third planned ultrasound is the last prenatal screening that is performed from 30 to 34 weeks of pregnancy... It also assesses the development and growth of the child, its estimated weight, position in the uterine cavity relative to the exit from it, because the birth is not far off, and doctors need to decide on the tactics of delivery.
Indications for an unscheduled ultrasound
If necessary, ultrasound diagnostics can be used at any time. For example, at the very beginning - to establish the fact of pregnancy itself, to establish the fact of multiple pregnancy, when two or three babies are growing under a woman's heart.
Women often go to ultrasound at their own request - to find out the gender of the child, to see how he has grown. Doctors have certain indications for conducting unscheduled ultrasound examinations.
Among them:
- Clarification of the gestational age... If a woman does not remember the start date of the last menstrual period, if she has an irregular cycle, then the obstetrician will need an opinion from an ultrasound specialist to establish the date of the expected birth.
- Interruption threat... If a woman complains of pain, discharge from the genitals, which should not be normal, abdominal tension, tone, if the smoothness and shortening of the cervix, opening of her external pharynx is determined by manual examination on the gynecological chair, then ultrasound is done urgently.
- Suspected developmental delay of the baby, intrauterine death... The referral in this case is issued by the obstetrician based on the difference between the size of the uterus, the height of its fundus, which are determined at the appointment, and the actual gestational age. Also, pregnant women who have suddenly changed the nature of the child's movements are sent to an ultrasound scan outside the schedule - they have become more aggressive and frequent, rare and apathetic, or the movements of the baby in the mother's womb have stopped altogether.
- ECO... Women who were able to become pregnant through in vitro fertilization need constant monitoring of their pregnancy. They may be given an ultrasound more often just to make sure everything is going well.
- Assessment of the consequences of disease and treatment... If a woman during the period of bearing a child has had some kind of infectious disease, if she received the treatment prescribed by the doctor, a control ultrasound is done to assess whether the baby has suffered, whether everything is in order with him. If a woman underwent some kind of surgery, for example, suturing the cervix, periodic ultrasound control is indicated almost until the very birth.
How to prepare for the examination?
As such, preparation for an ultrasound scan is needed only in the early stages of pregnancy, up to 10-12 weeks. As already mentioned, ultrasound penetrates better through the liquid, and therefore, when preparing for an external study performed by the transabdominal method, this should be taken into account.
A woman needs to drink about half a liter of water about an hour before diagnosis to fill her bladder. At a later date, this will not be necessary, since the amniotic fluid will be more than enough to conduct an ultrasound signal.
In the early stages, regardless of what type of examination is to be performed - external or vaginal - care should be taken to ensure that the intestines are not overflowing with feces and intestinal gases.
Swollen bowel loops can compress the pelvic organs, distorting the true size of the latter. therefore before an ultrasound scan, it is not recommended to eat foods that contribute to increased gas production in a couple of days... These include legumes and peas, beans, baked goods, black bread, any sweets, especially factory-made sweets, carbonated water, and large quantities of fermented milk products.
In the morning on the day of the scheduled examination, you need to empty the intestines, if there is no urge to defecate, you should use a micro enema, for example, "Mikrolax", and also drink activated charcoal or "Smecta" ("Espumisan" and "Simethicone" are also suitable) to free the intestines from gas bubbles.
Such preliminary preparation will not be necessary in the second trimester and in late pregnancy, when the uterus grows so much that it will move the intestines itself. Then no gases can distort the true picture of what is happening to the baby.
With you for an ultrasound scan, if it is carried out as planned, you should definitely take an exchange card, passport, medical policy, paper napkins to remove excess diagnostic gel from the abdomen, as well as a condom if the examination is carried out by the transvaginal method.
For any type of ultrasound scan you should bring a clean diaper with you, which can be placed on a gynecological chair (for transvaginal examination at an early stage), on a couch (for other types of ultrasound at other periods). It is advisable to have removable shoes and some money with you in case the printing of photos of the baby in this office is carried out on a paid basis.
Planned ultrasound and unscheduled examinations prescribed by a doctor are done free of charge. But some services are not included in the insurance claims provided for by the medical policy. So, gender determination during screening - paid service, as well as printing a photo or copying a video file from the machine to electronic media.
You can find out the prices for these ultrasound opportunities that are important for expectant mothers in a specific medical institution where she will be examined.
When can pregnancy be determined?
This question is of interest to all women who dream of having a child and are planning it. Two weeks after ovulation in the woman's blood, the level of the specific hormone hCG is already increasing, and pharmacy tests and laboratory blood tests for chorionic gonadotropic hormone begin to give positive results. but Ultrasound at this time does not show anything, even if the test pleases with a double stripe.
The size of the baby at this time is only about 1 millimeter, and no modern apparatus or doctor of the highest category is able to see it. But in a week such an opportunity appears theoretically, however, much in this depends on the quality of the scanner and the level of training of the diagnostician.
The baby grows up to 4 millimeters, his heart begins to beat. On ultrasound, the heartbeat in the full sense of the word is not yet heard, but the pulsation should not escape the gaze of an experienced doctor.
Thus, the earliest period at which pregnancy can be seen is 7-10 days after a delay or three weeks after ovulation, of course, if it happened on time and the implantation of the baby into the uterine cavity was not delayed.
Usually, an ultrasound examination shows the presence of a fetal egg in the uterine cavity from 4 weeks after the delay, from 5-6 obstetric weeks.
In addition to the usual female curiosity, which, as you know, is stronger than common sense, in the first weeks of pregnancy, an ultrasound scan may also be needed for well-grounded medical reasons.
Such the need arises if the delay is accompanied by bloody dischargethat are not related to the next menstruation, pain. After IVF conception, ultrasound control is also required in the first weeks.
It is also necessary to make sure that pregnancy has begun, and the ovum has descended into the uterus, as prescribed by the laws of nature, if a woman has previously had miscarriages in the early stages, ectopic pregnancies, frozen pregnancies at the very beginning of gestation, and also surgery, tumors and other gynecological problems that can affect the normal development of pregnancy.
Baby development by week
If the expectant mother did an ultrasound every week, starting from 1 week of pregnancy, when the baby has not yet conceived, she would be able to see the entire evolution of mankind using the example of one baby.
Before ovulation, ultrasound shows how the follicle matures, after it - how a yellow body is formed in the ovary - a temporary gland, whose task is to help the embryo in the very first weeks of its development with a shock hormonal background.
You can determine the fertilized egg from the 5th week of pregnancy... The baby's heartbeat is heard as early as 3 weeks after conception. At this time, the laying of internal organs begins, but so far it will not be possible to see them. At 5-6-7 weeks of pregnancy, ultrasound shows only the ovum - one or two, if there are several babies. The doctor can measure it, assess the vitality.
At 8 weeks pregnancy, the baby already looks like a man, however, he is only a grape in size. It has a big head and soon the embryonic tail will fall off. The face and ears are actively forming, the formation of the genital organs begins, but it will not be possible to see them on the ultrasound, since so far it is only about the formation of the internal gonads.
At week 9 the baby has all the organs, although they are in their infancy. On an ultrasound examination at this time it is still quite difficult to examine them in detail, but in general terms it is already becoming clear that the baby has two arms, two legs, a head, a big belly, and has a fairly well-formed heart, liver, kidneys, and lungs.
At week 10 the ultrasound scanner captures baby's movements well. They are still chaotic, sometimes involuntary, but a good sensor already allows you to "peep" what the baby is doing in the womb.
11 week the baby still has pronounced imbalances in the body and head - the head is large, and the body, compared to it, looks small and very thin. A good device with high image detail will allow you to see the baby's face at this time with still widely spaced eyes, ears, lowered below the level usual for our perception. Every day the features of the baby's face change, soon the ears and eyes will fall into place.
At 12 weeks the baby is already the size of an average lemon. He is no longer an embryo, but a fetus. Now the baby can please the doctor and the expectant mother, who looks at him through the monitor of the ultrasound machine, with more active facial expressions, more "conscious" and precise movements. If the scanner is good, then you can count the fingers on the baby's handles.
At 13 weeks the child begins to acquire sexual characteristics. The genital tubercle, which is exactly the same up to this point in both boys and girls, becomes either the penis or the labia. In theory during this period, it is quite possible to establish the sex of the baby with the help of ultrasound diagnostics, but the sex differences still look too small, and it is not always possible to accurately recognize a boy or a girl.
At week 14if a pregnant woman comes for an ultrasound scan, her baby can show everything he has already learned... And he can do a lot - sucks his finger, plays with the umbilical cord, reacts to loud sounds, unfamiliar voices. Moreover, it is already possible to determine the character of the baby. Some crumbs, at the sound of a doctor's voice alien to him, begins to move briskly, and the other freezes, trying to hide.
At week 15 the formation of the cerebral cortex begins, grooves and convolutions appear. Now every day the babies will "grow wiser"... In the meantime, the baby is busy with actively training his lungs - inhaling and spitting out amniotic fluid. At the same time, the digestive system "trains", the baby drinks, pees, the formation of the original feces begins in the intestines.
At week 16 the baby reaches an impressive size - his height is now almost 11 centimeters. During an ultrasound scan, the doctor may clearly consider all the internal organs of the child, evaluate them and detect some malformations, if any.
Mom will be able to see how the baby turns his head and makes swimming movements. His skeletal and muscular systems are almost complete and neural connections are now being established between muscles and the brain. Soon the baby will be able to coordinate its movements.
At 17-18 weeks pregnancy is already possible determine the sex of the child by ultrasound. Moreover, the accuracy of such a determination will be higher than ever.... At an earlier period, the genitals were almost not visible, at later stages the baby will become cramped, and he will take a pose with legs tucked into his stomach or sit down, and it will be even more difficult to see the sex differences.
At week 19 During pregnancy, the baby begins to be covered with a protective lubricant that will protect his skin until the very birth and in the first hours after birth. His hair is growing, his fingernails and toenails have already grown. He hears, dreams, smiles, yawns, hiccups, plays with his legs or umbilical cord when awake. Parents will be able to see any of these actions themselves if they do an ultrasound scan at this time.
At 20-21 weeks the baby is fully formed and is already beginning to resemble a newborn. Now all his organs and body parts will only grow, new ones will not be formed. The crumb is growing fast, now it reaches 25 centimeters from crown to heels.
On ultrasound diagnostics during this period, the sex of the baby is almost unmistakably determined. If you make a volumetric color ultrasound, you can see the rich facial expressions of the child, stunning in their manifestations - he knows so many grimaces that you can admire them for a very long time.
22-23 weeks a child can demonstrate a brain that is ten times enlarged. Its formation is completed, now the "debugging" of the central nervous system will be in full swing.
The baby begins to gradually accumulate subcutaneous fat, but still looks rather thin. This should not scare the expectant mother, very soon both "cheeks" and "dimples" will appear.
At 24-25 weeks pregnancy on ultrasound, you can see a fully developed, large child, whose weight is approaching a kilogram. At this time, it is determined who the child will be - left-handed or right-handedbecause he already prefers one handle when making his movements.
On the ultrasound, you can see how the baby clenches his fists, puts them under the cheek in a dream; at these times, doctors already more closely study the structure of the placenta in order to recognize its early aging, if it occurs.
At 26-27 weeks the baby is actively growing and gaining weight. He has an almost autonomous endocrine system, the formation of immunity begins... During the passage of an ultrasound scan, the child will no longer show somersaults and somersaults, since it becomes cramped in the uterus.
At 28-30 weeks The baby for the first time can please his mother with chubby cheeks, because he has already accumulated a sufficient amount of subcutaneous fat. You can also enjoy this spectacle on a regular, two-dimensional ultrasound, but the impressions received from a three-dimensional one cannot be compared. The baby has grown, its weight is more than a kilogram, and its height is already about 40 centimeters.
At 30-33 weeks it is worth visiting a color ultrasound to see how the baby's skin has changed. She stopped being red, wrinkles were smoothed out due to subcutaneous fatty tissue. Research at this time is of great importance, because by the 33rd week most babies already occupy the position in the uterine cavity, from which they will soon be going to be born.
At 34-37 weeks the baby sleeps more, gathers strength, soon he will have an important event - his own birth. Outwardly, the child changes little during this period, his growth slows down, only weight gain remains intense. An ultrasound scan evaluates the placenta, the umbilical cord, a lot depends on their condition in the last weeks of pregnancy.
At 38-40 weeks the baby looks exactly the same as at birth. Many mothers save photos from 3D ultrasound at this time and compare them with photos in the first days after the birth of the baby.
The baby does not have to wait for motor activity during the examination, he is very cramped. But facial expressions and grimaces literally save the day - if they can be captured in the picture, it will be one of the best pictures in the family album.
Decoding ultrasound - basic rules and terms
The issues of decoding the results of ultrasound examination excite all pregnant women without exception. You always want to be sure that the child is developing according to the deadline, that everything is in order with him.
You don't need to have a lot of medical knowledge to understand the ultrasound protocol. It is enough to understand what terms the diagnostician uses and what they mean. We publish all the data presented solely for information purposes, it is not recommended to diagnose the expectant mother herself. Ultrasound should only be decoded by a doctor.
In the first trimester
In the first third of the gestation period, in the ultrasound protocol, a special role is assigned to the location and size of the ovum. It is his development in the initial stages that gives the most accurate picture of the course of pregnancy.
To characterize this parameter, a certain value is used - SVD (average inner diameter of the ovum). It is measured until about 10 weeks of pregnancy, after this period the main parameter is another size - CTE.
SVD is very important in the diagnosis of undeveloped pregnancy, anembryonia, when the baby for some reason died at the very early stages of pregnancy, if there is no embryo in the ovum at all, as well as when there is a threat of miscarriage or an ongoing miscarriage.
The coccyx-parietal size of the fetus is a segment from the coccyx to the crown. It is the main parameter indicating the growth rate of the baby up to 15-16 weeks. In the early stages, the diameter of the yolk sac is also measured, which serves as a food storage for the baby.
In the first third of the gestation period the main task of ultrasound scanning is to identify possible problems in the formation and development of the baby, so that the woman has a choice - to leave the child or have an abortion for medical reasons, if the baby is found to have pathologies.
To do this, measure the length of the nasal bones (DNA) and the thickness of the collar space (TVP). These are the very markers that can talk about the risk of developing pathologies.
In the second and third trimesters
From the second trimester, the ultrasound protocol includes new concepts and abbreviations that are obscure at first glance - BPR, DBK, etc. These abbreviations indicate the main dimensions, because the baby has grown, and the doctor no longer measures his height from the coccyx to the crown of the entire head. You can get an idea of the proportions of the baby's body in its individual parts.
The main parameters are the longitudinal and transverse dimensions of the head. According to them, the timing of pregnancy is checked, the date of the intended birth is specified, their proportions may indicate possible problems with the child's health.
The longitudinal size from the frontal to the occipital bone is called the frontal-occipital (LZR), and the transverse - from the temple to the temple - is called biparietal (BPR). They cannot be considered separately; when decoding the ultrasound protocol, both sizes are taken into account together.
Paired bones are also subject to measurement - these are the thigh bones (DBK), the lower leg bones (DKG), as well as the humerus (Duodenum) and the forearm bone (PrEP). The development of the baby can be indirectly indicated by the circumference of the baby's tummy (OB) and the diameter of his chest.
All these dimensions taken together allow the program embedded in the scanner to calculate the estimated fetal weight, which can be indicated in the protocol under the abbreviation PMP.
Also, the thickness of the placenta, the index of amniotic fluid - the amount of water (AFI) is examined. In the seventh month, with the help of USDG, the blood flow in the uterine vessels and the placenta is examined.
Closer to childbirth, these parameters acquire a decisive importance, as do the anatomical features of a woman - features of the pubic articulation, the size of the small pelvis.
How is the norm determined?
Compliance or inconsistency of the size of the baby with the standards is determined by special diagnostic tables, which are used by all diagnostic doctors. In most modern scanners, this information is embedded in the program, so it itself indicates which values meet the deadline and which do not.
Small deviations from the indicated values usually have no diagnostic weight.... In order to say that the growth rate of the baby lags behind the average statistical parameters, the lag should be significant - two or more weeks. Therefore, if the baby is behind for a week on ultrasound, no one will sound the alarm, and expectant mothers are recommended to do this.
The identified deviations and defects necessarily need confirmation, on the basis of ultrasound alone, diagnoses are not made... If the doctor suspects hypoplasia of the nasal bones in the baby, a consultation with a geneticist and more accurate, for example, invasive diagnostic procedures, will be required.
If the study showed a different length of the shin bones or a double contour of the head, one more will definitely be needed - an expert ultrasound to exclude the human factor and banal errors of outdated technology.
When finding out whether a child meets the norm, his possible hereditary features of appearance are taken into account, because there are large and miniature parents with long or snub noses, respectively, and children are all different, and this difference becomes especially noticeable in the 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy.
Therefore, a long or short nose, long or short legs are an individual trait, the main thing is that the baby's body is proportional, and the internal organs work without interruption... The tables themselves, by which the data are compared, are presented below.
Parameter norms by week in the table
Table of norms in the first trimester
The length of the bones of the nose and TVP in the first trimester
About the dangers and complications
The dangers of ultrasound for pregnant women have been debated for decades. It must be said that there is no official evidence of the harm or harmlessness of this diagnostic method in nature.
For many years, doctors have been observing pregnant women who undergo such procedures, and so far it has not been possible to establish facts of a negative impact on the development of the child. Therefore, it is believed that ultrasound can be done as many times as the situation requires.
However, to this day, the influence of ultrasonic waves on the further development of the child, on his condition 20, 30, 50 years after birth remains unexplored. There is no way to check this by scientific methods, it is this fact that opponents of ultrasound diagnostics refer to during pregnancy.
Traditional medicine has its own view of everything that happens. Until proven harm, the method is considered conditionally safe.
Numerous reviews and questions of expectant mothers on women's and parental forums on the Internet relate to the problems of complications after passing this type of diagnosis. Transabdominal ultrasound usually does not have any negative effects on the condition of a woman and her baby.
Rarely, after external examination, there is a small and short-lived increased tone of the uterusthat passes quickly. Its experts are not inclined to associate it with ultrasound, most often the reason for the increased tone is in excitement and nervous experiences with which the expectant mother went for research.
Transvaginal ultrasound can cause some "side" effects. Usually expectant mothers complain that their stomach hurts after the examination, brown discharge appearsas well as scanty pink and transparent discharge.
If their number is small, and they last only a few hours after diagnosis, there is nothing to worry about. The reason for an unscheduled visit to a doctor is bleeding after an ultrasound scan, the appearance of pulling, cutting or cramping pains.
It is difficult to answer unequivocally with what such “consequences” may be connected. Experts tend to believe that the pregnancy itself is to blame for the most part. Influenced by the hormone progesterone the mucous membranes of the vagina become looser and more vulnerable. Even an ultrasonic sensor can cause microtrauma.
It would be wrong to blame the ultrasound for the miscarriage that took place after the study or for the occurrence of a threat if the spotting does not stop for two or more days after passing the diagnostic measures. If this happened, then, according to most doctors, ultrasound diagnostics simply coincided with the onset of pathological changes in the body of the pregnant woman.
On women's forums, a frightened pregnant woman, of course, will immediately begin to tell horror about real and fictional characters, as well as cite articles found on the Internet that ultrasound has a detrimental effect on DNA. Official science does not know such data. And therefore it is not worth drawing a parallel between pain and discharge and the ultrasound examination passed the day before.
Diagnostic accuracy
Ultrasound, although considered one of the most informative methods of examining pregnant women, is not considered a highly accurate diagnostic method. Its accuracy, depending on the quality of the apparatus and the qualifications of the diagnostician, ranges between 70 and 90%... Do not assume that such a diagnosis will answer all the questions that may arise.
Whether fetal hypoxia is visible, whether cerebral palsy or diabetic fetopathy is visible on ultrasound, all these are questions that have nothing to do with the real goals of the study. Ultrasound does not diagnose. The technique allows only to detect some alarming signs that may indicate the presence of violations, pathologies, anomalies. And it is not at all a fact that the suspicions will be confirmed.
Any ambiguous or alarming conclusion should be checked and rechecked by specialists using other diagnostic measures, laboratory diagnostics, and invasive procedures.
In the next video, you will find more information about ultrasound.
