Safety aspects of ultrasound in prenatal diagnosis

Ultrasound was used for the first time in pregnancy in the 1960 s and then found broader clinical application in the 70 s and particularly in the 80 s, thereby revolutionizing obstetrics and ultimately resulting in the development of a new subspecialty: prenatal diagnosis and perinatal medicine. This means that ultrasound has been used for more than 40 years in pregnancy to examine fetuses. This development was facilitated on the one hand by the ease of use of the method and the resulting broad availability and on the other hand by the fact that ultrasound is an imaging method that does not require the use of physical radiation. This resulted in early differentiation from diagnostic radiology (classic abdominal X-ray, pelvic X-ray, amniofetography) and later also from computed tomography. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to supplement ultrasound for targeted issues but is still very cost-intensive and has numerous limitations.

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
07. April 2020

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