Ultrasonography or medical sonography is an ultrasound-based diagnostic medical imaging technique used to visualize muscles, tendons and many internal organs, to capture their size, structure and any pathological lesions with real time tomographic images.

Ultrasound has been used by sonographers to image the human body for at least 50 years and has become one of the most widely used diagnostic tools in modern medicine.  Ultrasound is also used to visualize fetuses during routine and emergency prenatal care. Such diagnostic applications used during pregnancy are referred to as obstetric sonography. Properly performed ultrasound poses no known risks to the patient.

Doppler ultrasound is a non-invasive test that can be used to measure your blood flow and blood pressure by bouncing high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound) off red blood cells. A regular ultrasound uses sound waves to produce images, but can’t show blood flow.

A Doppler ultrasound can estimate how fast blood flows by measuring the rate of change in its pitch (frequency).  During a Doppler ultrasound, a technician trained in ultrasound imaging (sonographer) presses a small hand-held device (transducer), about the size of a bar of soap, against your skin over the area of your body being examined, moving from one area to another as necessary. This test may be done as an alternative to more-invasive procedures such as arteriography and venography, which involve injecting dye into the blood vessels so that they shows up clearly on X-ray images.

A Doppler ultrasound may help diagnose many conditions, including:

• Blood clots
• Poorly functioning valves in your leg veins, which can cause blood or other fluids to pool in your legs (venous insufficiency)
• Heart valve defects and congenital heart disease
• A blocked artery (arterial occlusion)
• Decreased blood circulation into your legs (peripheral artery disease)
• Bulging arteries (aneurysms)
• Narrowing (stenosis) of an artery, such as those in your neck (carotid ultrasound)

This test may also help your doctor check for injuries to your arteries or to monitor certain treatments to your veins and arteries.

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