Introduction

• Ultrasound is energy produced from sound. The human range for frequency in sound is approximately 20 cycles per second or 20,000 Hz. At this level of frequency is where sonic range ends and ultrasonic range begins.
  
  

Obstetrics

• Ultrasounds used for medical purposes allow a look into the subcutaneous layer of the body to see organs, muscles and tendons. The most common use for ultrasounds is the obstetric field. These advanced machines can allow an obstetrician to examine how a fetus is growing inside a mother's womb. This can provide the doctor the opportunity to aid with medications when a fetus is not developing properly.
  
  

Medical Ultrasound Uses

• Ultrasounds are effective for imaging soft tissues of the body. Structures of the body closer to the surface, such as muscles, tendons, testes, breast and the neonatal brain are imaged at a higher frequency, 7 to 18 MHz, which provides better picture, or resolution. A lower frequency is used, 1 to 6 mhz, to image deeper structures of the body, such as gall bladder and kidneys, with greater penetration but lower resolution.
  
  There are countless medical applications for ultrasound science. Other examples of ultrasound used in the medical field are cardiology to see possible blockages of the heart or urology to see the amount of fluid or urine in the bladder. Gastroenterologists also use ultrasounds to examine and diagnose lesions in the body.