- for dating and fetal growth
- detailed fetal anatomy
- nuchal translucency and other anomalies screening and detection
- fetal echocardiogram
- fetal middle cerebral artery Doppler
- 4D images available in selected cases
Obstetrical ultrasound has many indications during the pregnancy. Whether you would like to have a 4D picture of your baby developing inside your belly to show it to him 20 years from now, or you worry about fetal heart defects if you are diabetic, the ultrasound is indispensable. Today we even can detect fetal anemia by the blood flow speed into the baby’s brain (middle cerebral artery Doppler). Again there are specific milestones (exact dates) when each ultrasound exploration has the maximum accuracy depending on the targeted reason.
First ultrasound is very important to confirm the dates. For example your baby was in the 5th percentile for size at 11 weeks. At 36 weeks he is still in the 5th percentile, that’s reassuring. On the contrary saying the baby was in the 75th percentile initially and now at 36 weeks he is in 5th percentile, that could indicate the bay’s life is in serious danger requiring immediate intervention.
A detailed fetal anatomy screens all major fetal organs: brain, spine, heart, lungs, liver, stomach, kidney, bladder, arms and legs (including each of 5 fingers for each extremity). Therefore you may expect to know at 20 weeks pretty much everything about your baby development with 90% accuracy.
To have a bigger picture about the ultrasound role in obstetrics, you must know that pretty much every fetal problem may include this exploration into the diagnosis protocol. Our provider is a member of American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and performs in the office the majority of these explorations, explaining you in real time the findings, so you won’t need a visit to the technician and another one to the physician. However some indications (like nuchal translucency for example) require a technician trained essentially for this indication and we may need to refer you to the right place.
