Ultrasound

A safe and painless procedure which uses sound waves to obtain a medical image or picture of various organs and tissues in the body.

This procedure produces very precise images of your soft tissues, organs and blood flow. It can detect diseased or damaged tissues, locate abnormal growths and identify a wide variety of changing conditions, which enable your doctor to make a quick and accurate diagnosis.

What happens during the Exam

You will be assisted onto the examination table. At this time, a water-based transmission gel will be applied to the area of your body that will be examined. A transducer will be moved slowly over the body part being imaged. The transducer sends a signal to an on-board computer which processes the data and produces the ultrasound image. It is from this image that the diagnosis is made. You won’t feel a thing except for the slight pressure and movement of the transducer over the part of the body being imaged. It is important that you remain still and relaxed during the procedure. The ultrasound images will appear on a monitor similar to a TV screen.

Preparing yourself for an Exam

  • Eat meals. Please do not fast.
  • Drink 20 ounces of water one hour and 15 minutes prior to the time of your appointment. All of the liquid is to be in your system one hour before your appointment so that your bladder will be full.
  • Do not empty your bladder until your procedure has been completed or you have spoken with a technologist. If, for whatever reason, you are unable to maintain a full bladder, please call for further instructions.
  • We request that you arrive at all facilities 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment for patient information. We take pride in keeping on schedule, but emergencies do happen occasionally.
  • The average time for your procedure to be completed is approximately 30 minutes to one hour depending on the kind of examination. The technologist will perform the procedure and a radiologist will occasionally perform the scan as well. All results of all examinations will be given to you by your referring doctor.

  • by

    Jeremy House

  • COMPLETED

    19 Feb 2017
Ultrasound