How many times ultrasound is safe during pregnancy? - Dr. Uzma Zeenath Taher

Well, this is a controversial issue. It helps us in making diagnosis of high risk pregnancy and to identify any complications of pregnancy, to catergorise a pregnancy to low risk or high risk. So it is very beneficial to a pregnant woman and also it help us obstetricians to make many decisions. So we need to do ultrasounds. So is it harmful? Today the scientific evidence does not show any harm to the baby or the mother. There are some studies that go to show that there can be some sort of harm like cavitation, heating that can affect the baby that they have found out in animal studies. But if we need ultrasound, it should be done under rules and regulations and it should be kept to the minimum. It should not be kept to the whims and fancies of a pregnant woman or her relatives. It should be done for the need of a diagnosis. In UK according to NHS, they do two scans. One is NT scan that is done between 11 and 13.6 weeks but usually they do between 8 and 12. The other scan is done between 18 to 21 weeks called as anomaly scan. In my practice I do more than 2 scans during pregnancy. First I do a confirmatory when they come. If they come between 8 and 12 weeks, I do a confirmatory scan to confirm where the pregnancy us there in the uterus or in the tube because if it is a tubal pregnancy, it could have disastrous effects. The other one I do is an NT scan where we measure the amount of fluid on the nape of the neck of the fetus and give a screen positive or negative or normal result. It is combined with a double marker test and the other that I do is an anomaly scan between 18 and 22 weeks. In this scan, all the organs are seen and usually upto 75 to 80 % the baby is declared having normal organs and baby is declared as normal. But 100% in ultrasonography you can never give that the baby is normal. Further scans are done according to the stage of pregnancy or the indication. All scans of pregnancy whether it is 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 according to the gynecologist or according to the guidelines of the hospital or the guidelines of the country, should be done under strict indication and under the prescription or the request of a doctor. Unless there is a leak, scans should not be done in pregnancy according to the whims and fancies of a patient.

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