Known as one of the safest types of diagnostic tests, ultrasound is a non-invasive method of viewing specific areas of the body. While not known to produce any harm to humans when used properly, diagnostic ultrasound should only be used by fully trained medical practitioners.

A recent trend toward “boutique” 3-D ultrasound pictures has caused some concern within the medical community because they are used on pregnant women by non-medical staffers. Whenever any type of diagnostic equipment is used outside of a medical environment, it is never considered a safe practice, but when the service is promoted to pregnant women, it is even more disturbing. Ultrasound machines may be relatively safe, but they can still have a mechanical or thermal effect on tissue, especially when a machine uses increased output.

In ultrasound scanning, “output” is the amount of energy used to obtain the desired image. With the recent introduction of 3-D Doppler imaging technologies, these machines have not been in use long enough to gage the effects of repeated use. Pulsed images that utilize “spectral Doppler” and color-flow imaging make more use of B-mode imaging. This has led some physicians to believe that ultrasound machines should not be used on pregnant women more often than medically necessary.

Regulations on these machines have not changed the ways in which they can be used in a medical setting, but they have placed the onus of responsibility on the operator of the machine, rather than the manufacturer, to ensure that a diagnostic test is done safely. This means the operator must be familiar with the scanner’s settings and understand the potential mechanical or thermal effects on human beings.

Most trained portable ultrasound technicians are taught to use the lowest output power and shortest scanning time necessary to gather the required data. There may be some situations where it is rational to use higher output, but this type of sensitivity will only come when a practitioner has been thoroughly trained on the equipment.

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Color Flow Mode (CFM) is also called as Color Flow Doppler Imaging (CFD). These are the ultrasonic imaging techniques used for measuring the blood flow through the heart. They display the flow data on the 2-D echocardiography image. The technique is mainly used for determining the congenital, valvular and other forms of disease related to heart.

The color flow mode imaging is based on the Doppler Effect of the acoustics. The Doppler Effect helps to find out the blood flow from different parts of the body. It helps to identify the direction of the flow of blood. Color flow mode imaging is understandable to the common user. They avoid the displays of the complex spectral velocity structures.

In the color flow imaging different colors defines the direction of the given jet. The red color and blue colors are taken for defining the direction. The change in the hues from bright to dull depicts the change in the velocities. When there is turbulence in the blood flow a mosaic of colors is formed. Therefore a 2-D display of the blood flow is depicted by the identification of size, velocity and direction.

Red color is used to depict the flow towards the transducer and the blue color is used to depict the flow away from the transducer. Different color references can always be seen in different Doppler Imaging devices. Generally in color flow mode the color bar of black color represents zero flow.

Color flow mode is a very easy and understandable way to study the ultrasonic waves to calculate the blood flow. By making different colors as the codes to measure the flow of blood people can get easily the meaning of the reports generated. These techniques work in the normal hearing range of the humans thus are not harmful for humans.

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Mammography machines help analyze breast tissue for possible incidence of cancer and are the choicest tools for guiding breast biopsy procedures. It works by directing a low frequency X-ray through the breast tissue and rendering detailed images for the physician to analyze. The high clarity and definition of these images helps perceive even delicate tissues within the breast. The GE Senographe DMR Mammography Machine is a highly advanced state of the art piece of medical equipment from GE that delivers high performance at affordable costs. GE has been a pioneer in mammography machine manufacturing and over the years has set high industry standards which are rarely matched by competitors.

The machine is very user friendly and has 5 photocells for expansive imaging functionalities in breast placement and digital angulations display. It also provides hands free compression and offers more interaction with the patient by way of vertical height adjustment. The quality of images rendered by a mammography machine is of utmost importance. The high image quality increases the diagnostic capabilities of physicians and the GE Senographe DMR is ahead of the competition in that it delivers high quality images with superb clarity by using dedicated MaxiRay X-ray tube and SharpIQ grid. The MaxiRay bi-metal rhodium or molybdenum tube offers extensive penetration and comes with an inner focusing cone. The high X-ray spectrum provided by these metals penetrates even the densest of breast tissues and reveals details that are obscure in images rendered by other machines.

The unrivalled image quality and magnification provided by this tube sets the machine apart from its competitors. The machine reduces exposure time, which ensures image quality and cuts down dose by 40 percent which allows for examination of dense breasts without reduction in image quality. The anti scatter grid movement is also optimized by the SharpIQ and DMR features which provides high definition images. The machine as with most GE products is consistent and reliable and also ensures automatic optimization of parameters. The digital display, flipping markers and single magnification stand all add to overall design and renders it highly user friendly.

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Obstetrics is the special deal of care given to a lady and her child during her period of pregnancy, puerperium and child birth. In the obstetric exercise, the obstetric practitioners look after the pregnant woman on a regular basis to check the growth of the offspring. These obstetrics ensures that there is no ex-novo disease and no other preexisting diseases in the body of the pregnant woman which may possibly affect the baby in future.

Some of the risks which should be seen by an obstetric practitioner are pre-eclampsia, abnormal fetal presentation, abnormal placentation and intrauterine growth restriction. All such risk identification requires some special analysis of the woman on the regular basis. For example to check for pre-eclampsia, albuminuria i.e. the level of urine protein and blood pressure are checked at regular intervals.

In late pregnancies some of the fetal presentations get established like cephalic presentation which involves head first but the baby can be present buttocks first or feet first, transverse or at an oblique presentation. Some of the intrauterine growth restrictions observed by the obstetric practitioners is a general designation in which the offspring is smaller than the expected size, in this case such serious growth symptoms shows a behavior to drop off from the 50 percentile and coming above 10 percentile.

All the calculations are obtained when plotted on a fetal growth chart. Different causes can be extrinsic, relating to the problems apart from the fetus and different causes can be intrinsic, which means relating to the problems of the fetus. An obstetrician needs to check for all types of symptoms to save a child from any of the problems which may arise in future and for the pregnant lady to ensure the successful delivery. Thus for a complete growth of the child obstetrician has a big role to play.

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With the technology established for HIFU or High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (see part 1 of this series), more and more uses are being found for this innovative technology. In 2004, The Food and Drug Administration approved HIFU for to treat uterine fibroids, significantly broadening the treatment options for this disease.

Cancer Applications
But it is in the treatment of cancers that HIFU finds very broad application. It has been successfully applied in the destruction of solid tumors of the bone, brain, breast, liver, kidney and prostate, just to name only a few.

The earliest use of HIFU to destroy tumors was in the case of prostate cancer. The treatment is given trans-rectally and the results are reaching the same success rates as traditional surgery. These and other similar treatments for prostate cancer greatly reduce some of the common side effects that can accompany traditional surgery, including nerve damage and the impotence which can result.

Laying aside tumor destruction aside, one of the latest innovations for HIFU is using it in conjunction with cancer drugs. There is a class of cancer drugs that can be loaded into the tumor site, but will remain in a tight bundle until released by the application of HIFU. This reduces the systemic spread of the chemotherapy agent while maximizing its concentration at the tumor site. This methodology makes it easier to keep the medicine in one spot, increase the local concentration and keep the toxic burden on the body as low as possible. This minimizes the risks risks associated with traditional chemotherapy methodologies.

The brain is protected by a blood/brain barrier that makes it difficult for some substances to get to the brain, even if you want those substances to get to the brain. It has been discovered that an application of HIFU will temporarily disable the blood/brain barrier and let needed drugs get through to the brain.

Ultrasound Machine Tags: high intensity focused ultrasoud, Medical Equipment, ultrasound machine