HELLO-O-O-O-O… hello… hello… hello. For hikers in a wide-open canyon, there is something amusing and heart-warming about the sound of your own shout bouncing back and forth between the walls of rock. But bouncing sound is much more than an entertaining phenomenon—it’s a very useful science. Bats, whales, and dolphins use echoes to hunt and navigate. Naval scientists developed sonar during World War II as a tool for detecting submerged objects in the surrounding seas. And modern medical technicians use the same sound-bouncing ultrasound technology to prolong your life by detecting a broad range of dangerous conditions while there’s still time to get medical treatment. An ultrasound screening is quick, painless, and non-invasive. Unlike other medical testing, ultrasound does not expose the patient to such risks as chemicals, radiation, or bleeding. To create an image of structures inside the patient‘s body, a technician aims high-frequency sound waves at the area of interest, while a computer records an image by calculating the distance the returning sound waves traveled and the direction they moved. Many people first experience sonography, as the imaging process is called, when a technician scans the growing fetus inside a pregnant woman. Sonography is also often used to monitor medical conditions in cardiology, urology, and ophthalmology.
Life Line Screening uses highly reliable, state-of-the-art colorflow Doppler ultrasound technology, which allows technicians to measure blood flow through a vessel, in the following scans:
An ultrasound scanner includes a device called a transducer, which emits—and then catches—the high-frequency sound. Before scanning with the transducer, the technician spreads a small amount of gel over the patient’s skin to seal out air that could interfere with the sound waves.
Learn more about how we screen
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