The method of ultrasound, or ultrasound, has long and effectively been used by doctors to diagnose various diseases. It was the ultrasound that revealed the veil of secrecy over the intrauterine development of man. Today in Russia, every pregnant woman has to undergo an ultrasound examination at least three times during the entire period of gestation. Naturally, future mothers are concerned about the question: is ultrasonic harmful during pregnancy.
Effect of ultrasound on pregnancy
Some mothers consider ultrasound to be a kind of X-ray study, are very afraid of receiving radiation dose and believe that ultrasound during pregnancy is harmful. However, ultrasound with an X-ray has nothing in common: the fetus is examined with the help of sound waves of high frequency, inaudible to the human ear.
Nevertheless, today doctors are already cautious about the full safety of ultrasound in pregnancy. Like any intervention, ultrasound can have negative consequences. And although officially the damage of ultrasound in pregnancy is not recognized, many domestic and foreign researchers argue that ultrasonic waves can adversely affect the fetus.
How harmful is ultrasound in pregnancy?
Experiments conducted on animals showed that ultrasonic waves affect the growth rate of the embryo. And although there is no such data on the person yet, the researchers report the following possible negative consequences of ultrasound:
- increase in the tone of the uterus;
- increased fetal temperature;
- fetal heart rate acceleration;
- delay in fetal development.
Nevertheless, such harm to ultrasound during pregnancy is possible only on condition that this procedure is carried out very often. Usually the same mothers need to undergo only three ultrasound examinations: at 10-12 weeks of pregnancy, at 20-22 weeks and 30-32 weeks. Conduct ultrasound on a standard 2D apparatus, and the procedure time is an average of 15 minutes. This means that any potential damage to ultrasound for pregnant women and their babies is minimized.
However, recently 3D and 4D ultrasound have gained popularity: doctors and future parents can not only get information about the development of the child, but also see its three-dimensional image. Many pregnant women are often asked to take pictures of the baby or record "a memory" of a small video about his pre-natal life. Alas, just such a "concern" may pose a threat to the fetus: in order to catch a successful camera angle and to shoot precious shots, you have to expose the child to ultrasound for longer, and the intensity of ultrasound in 3D and 4D devices is an order of magnitude higher than in a conventional 2D study .
Often, doctors unreasonably prescribe and ultrasound dopplerography of the fetus (examination of the heart and large vessels), and this is also a very tough impact on the child.
Is it dangerous to have an ultrasound in pregnancy?
Despite all the negative factors, doctors still call ultrasound one of the safest studies of the fetus. In some situations, ultrasound can really help to identify certain problems, and short-term ultrasound will do more harm than harm.
However, it is not necessary to use your ultrasound to satisfy your curiosity and to record the chronicle of the intrauterine life of your baby. With a normal pregnancy, three studies are enough. The doctor may prescribe you additional ultrasound in the following cases:
- threat of early termination of pregnancy;
- work in hazardous production and residence in an ecologically unfavorable area;
- the transferred virus diseases in the beginning of pregnancy;
- the age of the pregnant woman is more than 35 years;
- harmful habits of a pregnant woman: smoking, alcoholism, drug addiction;
- birth of children with malformations;
- presence of relatives with hereditary diseases;
- reception of a woman at the beginning of pregnancy of different medications;
- marriage between close relatives.
In this case there is no danger of ultrasound during pregnancy.