Ultrasound...scan??

Question

Hi,
what is the difference between a scan and an ultrasound?
and what different types are there

Answer 1

There are many different types of scans, CT, MRI Nuclear, Ultrasound etc etc. If someone says you are having a scan, it doesn't necessarily mean Ultrasound

Answer 2

It is completely different things

Ultrasound is a sound with frequencies > 20000 Hz that the human ear can not understand

Scan is a device which can see an organ slice by slice. For example, if you scan the liver, the images obtained sho you the liver as if it were seen slice by slice

The Ultrasound scan is a scan provided by the ultra sound.
But hte ultrasound are not the only manner. You canuse X-rays;MRI magnetic resonance imaging

Answer 3

ultrasound scans: use ultrasonic sound waves which are at a high frequency, they pass through the tissues/fluids/bones etc at varying speeds and bounce back to form a picture, they are noninvasive and donot pose a radiation risk, they are used in things like pregnancy, gallstones , to assess free fluid in the abdomen, their picture quality is not brilliant.

scans: MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) a patient is placed in a strong magnetic field where pulses of radio frequency magnetic field osicillations occur..the signal is switched off and the patient emits a radio frequency signal this is recorede amplified and analysed and produces excellent pictures(it works through the nuclei in cells . think of it as tiny beacons ready to emit a signal telling us where they are and what they are)there is minimal risk to the patient with one of these scans.

CT (computed tomography) or cat scan, basically xrays think of a polo mint where the patient is in the hole, the xrays fire in a cyclical fashion producing slices of imagery that can be put together to form a complete body scan in slices, high radiation risk plus contrast medium may be used to enhance certain bodily structures (e.g the blood vessels) good resolution of tissues is achieved with this scan

there are other types of scans but they are becoming less important, MRI is probably the best to identify tumours/stones etc in a 3D space compared to USS which will only show there is something there.

Answer 4

Ultrasound scan is probably the easiest to experience, the others could be bad especially going into a tunnel in older scanners.

Answer 5

http://www.howstuffworks.com/ultrasound3.htm

There u go, it was too long to explain it all so take a look here to see if this answers your question