What are the advantages and disadvantages of ultrasound scanning (i need facts not opinion sorry!)?

Answer 1

There are many advantages including the reassurance of seeing a healthy baby moving and thriving. You also get to save pictures for the memory book. Ultrasound can also be useful as a diagnostic if a problem is suspected.

Three disadvantages that come to mind.

1. Expense - Getting an ultrasound when it is not medically necessary either costs the family (out of pocket) or it costs your insurance company and makes costs go up for everyone

2. Worry - Many mothers are caused unneccesary worry and anxiety by something that is seen on an ultrasound. The majority of the time, nothing is really wrong or it's so minor that it was not even worth knowing about.

3. Abortion - Unfortunately, thousands of doctors each year use the results of ultrasound scans to offer an abortion to mothers whose baby's "might" have a problem or defect. Sometimes the problems are mild, sometimes they are severe. And sometimes (again) the ultrasound is wrong. Whatever the case, abortion should never be an option and using ultrasound for this reason is an ABUSE and a crime and often fatal for the baby.

Answer 2

Benefits of ultrasound:

Can detect lesions in women with dense breasts when mammograms cannot.
Can help identify the nature of a lesion that is unclear from a mammogram.
Widely available, and less expensive than a mammogram.
The only way to tell the difference between a cyst and a solid mass without using a needle to draw out fluid
Patient is never exposed to radiation during an ultrasound, allowing pregnant women to use this imaging technique.
Can use ultrasound to detect blood flow through vessels
Most ultrasound exams are quick and painless.
Ultrasounds do not cause any health problems, and there are no known harmful effects to humans.

Disadvantages of ultrasound:

Ultrasound results may identify a potential area of concern that is not malignant. These false-positive results could lead to more procedures, including biopsies, that are not necessary .
Preliminary data from a trial being conducted showed that there was a higher rate of false-positive results with ultrasounds than with mammography (2.4%-12.9% for ultrasound and 0.7%-6% for mammography).
Although ultrasound is often used in an attempt to prevent an invasive measure for diagnosis, sometimes it is unable to determine whether or not a mass is malignant, and a biopsy will be recommended.
Many cancers cannot be detected via an ultrasound.
Calcifications that are visible on mammograms are not visible on ultrasound scans, thereby preventing early diagnosis of the portion of breast cancers that begin with calcifications.
Ultrasounds are not available everywhere, and not all insurance plans cover them.
An ultrasound requires a highly experienced and skilled operator to detect a malignant lump, as well as good equipment. If the cancerous tissue is not detected at the time of the scan, it will not be caught as early as possible. The ACR-accredited facilities database is a good way to determine the expertise of a facility in ultrasound imaging.

Answer 3

Disadvantages Of Ultrasound

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What are the advantages and disadvantages of ultrasound scanning (i need facts not opinion sorry!)?

Answer 5

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/axK9L

It's user dependent. There can be a lot of artifacts that you don't want, depending on the angle. For certain exams/results, the physician may have to recommend another Imaging modality (usually Angio, Nuclear Med or MR). Some pathologies look similar on ultrasound.

Answer 6

This website lists the risks, benefits and limitations of many imaging studies. This is what it says about OB ultrasounds:

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS VS. RISKS?
BENEFITS:
***Ultrasound scanning is noninvasive (no needles or injections) and is usually painless.
***Ultrasound is widely available, easy-to-use and less expensive than other imaging methods.
***Ultrasound imaging uses no ionizing radiation.
***Ultrasound scanning gives a clear picture of soft tissues that do not show up well on x-ray images.
***Ultrasound causes no health problems and may be repeated as often as is necessary if medically indicated.
***Ultrasound is the preferred imaging modality for the diagnosis and monitoring of pregnant women and their unborn infants.
***Ultrasound has been used to evaluate pregnancy for nearly four decades and there has been no evidence of harm to the patient, embryo or fetus. Nevertheless, ultrasound should be performed only when clinically indicated.
***Ultrasound allows the doctor to see inside the uterus and provides much information about the pregnancy.
RISKS:
***For standard diagnostic ultrasound there are no known harmful effects on humans.
WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS OF OBSTETRIC ULTRASOUND IMAGING?
Obstetric ultrasound cannot identify all fetal abnormalities. Consequently, when there are clinical or laboratory suspicions for a possible abnormality, a pregnant woman may have to undergo nonradiologic testing such as amniocentesis (the evaluation of fluid taken from the sac surrounding the baby) or chorionic villus sampling (evaluation of placental tissue) to determine the health of the baby, or she may be referred by her primary care provider to a perinatologist (an obstetrician specializing in high-risk pregnancies)."

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=obstetricus

Answer 7

Advantages....
Well ultrasounds are NOT for our entertainment even though we are dead excited to go to them to see our little babies but it is important that we attend for the doctors eye, they measure allsorts and make sure your baby is growing correctly.

Disadvantages...
There isn't any unless your babys heart isn't beating but that isn't the ultrasounds fault. They can detect a certain amount of abnormalities like down sydrome but again it's from a good guessing from the size of the babys neck. If they thought something was odd, they'd opt you to other options to find out more.

Do not ever miss an ultrasound, all the 3rd world people that have not even anestic to bring a baby into this world and heres us missing appoinment because we are 'scared'.

It's an amazing feeling seeing your baby too.

Answer 8

Well... Having had multiple ultrasounds during my pregnancies with my two kids, the major advantage for me was knowing that my little ones were doing well. I had a miscarriage before my son came along, and I ended up being high-risk, so it was reassuring to me to have the ultrasounds.

During an u/s done at 19 weeks, we found out that our daughter has a cleft lip/palate. A 3-D u/s was done 4 weeks later to confirm it. This was an advantage to us, as it allowed us to get in touch with our town's cleft/craniofacial center and meet with the team before she was born. :)

Answer 9

Personally, I don't believe there IS any disadvantage to having an ultrasound. Some might say it's a disadvantage to discover a baby's abnormalities, but IMO, knowledge is power. When you know what's happening, you have choices, and you have the ability to prepare for what your child's special needs might be.

Answer 10

Advantages
They check the heart and valves are working
Liver and kidneys are functioning
Bones length and hands and feet present
measure and check the stomach for abnormalities
check for downs and spina bifida
check for cleft palate and club foot
measure head circumference, to get an estimate of size of baby for gestation.
See what the sex it and if it is a boy they can see the testicles
they check the bladder
they check the spine, and hips for problems

Disadvantages
None!