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Hello! I'm Dr. Geoffrey Rubin, a radiologist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and I’d like to tell you about ultrasound imaging.

Ultrasound is a safe, noninvasive test that produces pictures of the inside of your body using sound waves. You will be guided to lie on a bed where you will be accompanied by a sonographer who is a specialist in using ultrasound. They will place warmed gel on your skin and then pass a transducer over the surface of your body to see inside. We use ultrasound for many purposes – to diagnose the causes of pain, swelling and infection in the body’s internal organs, to examine a baby in pregnant women and the brain and hips in infants.

Ultrasound is also used to help guide biopsies, diagnose heart conditions, and assess damage after a heart attack.

If your doctor has scheduled you for an ultrasound exam, there are several things you can do to prepare.

First, it's best to leave jewelry at home and wear loose, comfortable clothing. You may be asked to change into a gown.

Preparation will depend on the type of your exam and you’ll be given instructions regarding eating and drinking prior to the exam. The vast majority of ultrasound scans do not involve needles or injections. While it may be temporarily uncomfortable, an ultrasound exam is almost never painful.

Remember, ultrasound is extremely safe, and does not use radiation. It provides a clear picture of soft tissues that do not show up well on x-ray images. And, standard diagnostic ultrasound has no known harmful effects.

To learn more about ultrasound imaging, visit RadiologyInfo.org.

Thank you for your time!