Ultrasound

Ultrasound technology is the safest form of diagnostic imaging you can have, with no reported occurrences of adverse effects on patients. It’s also an excellent diagnostic tool used by the multidisciplinary team at Touch Stone Rehabilitation & Health Center in the Prince’s Bay neighborhood of Staten Island, New York. To take advantage of the ultrasound services at Touch Stone Rehabilitation & Health Center, call the office or request an appointment online today. 

What are ultrasounds?

Ultrasounds are diagnostic imaging technologies, sometimes called sonography. An ultrasound creates precise images of your internal organs, blood vessels, and other soft tissues.

The ultrasound machine has a handpiece called a transducer that sends out sound waves into your body. You won’t hear anything as the soundwaves are outside the range for human ears to pick up.

When the sound waves meet soft tissues, they bounce back. This creates a pattern that computer software translates into an image. Standard ultrasounds produce two-dimensional images, but it’s possible to get three-dimensional ultrasounds as well.

Your Touch Stone Rehabilitation & Health Center provider views the images the ultrasound creates on a monitor. This helps them diagnose a range of conditions, so they can create an appropriate treatment plan.

What kinds of ultrasound are there?

One type of ultrasound looks at your thyroid gland in your neck. It’s used to check for nodules or other abnormalities of the thyroid gland. 

There are also other kinds of ultrasound, including abdominal and vascular ultrasounds.

Abdominal ultrasound

A common type is the abdominal or pelvic ultrasound, which produces images of the internal organs in your abdomen. This might be used to check your liver or gallbladder, and is also the kind of ultrasound that shows images of developing babies in the womb.

Vascular ultrasound

Vascular ultrasound is a type of ultrasound that shows blood moving through your veins or arteries. Venous and arterial ultrasound uses Doppler signals that bounce off red blood cells as they move through blood vessels. These help your provider measure the speed of blood flowing through your blood vessels. Doppler ultrasound highlights problems with blood pressure or blood flow in key places like the carotid artery in your neck.

The other principal use of ultrasound technology is to check the health of your heart. An ultrasound is used in this way, and it is called an echocardiogram.

What is an echocardiogram?

There are several different kinds of echocardiogram:

Transthoracic echocardiogram

This type of echocardiogram is like the standard abdominal ultrasound. It uses a transducer to produce ultrasound beams that go through your chest and bounce off your heart to produce images.

Transesophageal echocardiogram

Transesophageal echocardiograms provide an even clearer image of your heart. They’re different than transthoracic echocardiograms because the transducer is inserted down into your esophagus so that it gets very close to your heart.

Both of these kinds of echocardiograms might also use Doppler soundwaves to show blood flow.

What is a stress test?

If your symptoms only occur when you’re exercising or otherwise physically active, you might need to undergo a cardiopulmonary exercise stress test.

This involves using a treadmill or exercise bike to increase your heart rate. Once it reaches the point where you’re experiencing symptoms, an ultrasound is performed to give your provider a better view of what’s happening in your heart to cause these effects.

If your condition means you’re unable to exercise, you can still undergo the test by receiving a medication that makes your heart beat faster, as though you were exercising.

To learn more about the ultrasound services available at Touch Stone Rehabilitation & Health Center, call the office or request an appointment online today.