Ultrasound Technology

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What is Ultrasound?

Ultrasound or ultrasonography is a medical imaging technique that uses high frequency sound waves. It is a high pitch frequency that cannot be heard by the human ear. In ultra sound the following happens: High frequency sound pulses (1-5megahertz) are transmitted from the ultrasound machine into your body using a probe. The sound wave will travel into your body until it hits an object such as soft tissue and bone. When the sound wave hits these objects some of the wave will be reflected back to the probe. While some waves may carry on further till they hit another object and then reflected back. The probe picks up these reflected sound waves and relays them to the machine. The distance and time from the probe, to where the sound wave was reflected, to when the echo is received back is calculated by the machine. A two dimensional image like below is produced displaying the distances on the screen.

How an Ultrasound machine works

An ultrasound machine is made up of many parts: The transducer probe is responsible for sending and receiving of the waves. It is the main part of the machine. The probe generates and receives the waves by the principle of piezoelectric effect. This was discovered in 1880 by Pierre and Jacques Curie. The probe contains one or more quartz crystals called piezoelectric crystals. When these crystals are cut to a specific shape they become an important part of the ultrasound system. They can contract in one direction and expand in another when an alternating electric current is passed through the crystal. Each Piezo-electrical crystal has its own resonant frequency and when the electric current is applied, it will oscillate and vibrate at that exact frequency. So the sa...

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...he potential for delayed effects has been virtually ignored."

References

Freudenrich, C., 1998, Ultrasound Machine [Online] http://health.howstuffworks.com/ultrasound3.htm [accessed March 2008]

Harmsworth, A. P., 2005-2008, Ultrasound, [Online] http://www.gcse.com/waves.htm [Accessed March 2008]

HBO Company, 1998, Ultrasound Treatment, [Online] http://www.uihealthcare.com/topics/sportsmedicine/spor3358.html [accessed March 2008]

Massachusetts General Hospital, 2008, Ultrasound Image [Online] http://www.mghrems.org/photos/clinical/UltrasoundMachine2007.jpg [accessed March 2008]

Rall, J., 2001, The Dangers of Prenatal Ultrasound, [Online] http://www.unhinderedliving.com/pultra.html [accessed March 2008]

Thomas, P., Date Unknown, Ultrasound is it worth it?, [Online] http://www.greenhealthwatch.com/news/latest/latest0701/ultrasound-hurt.html [accessed March 2008]

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