4-D Ultrasound | Breakthroughs in Diagnostic Imaging

4-D Ultrasound | Breakthroughs in Diagnostic Imaging video

Wendy Denmead couldn't believe her eyes during her most recent obstetrician visit. "With the 4-d ultrasound, it's like you're peeking right inside the womb. Wendy was truly able to get up close and personal with her baby, watching its every move in real time and color. We saw the eyes, the nose, ears, cheeks, big round cheeks, it was phenomenal. Technology has given birth to the 4-d ultrasound.

Courtesy the 4-d ultrasound, Wendy Denmead was truly able to get up close and personal with her baby, watching its every move in real time and color. She couldn't believe her eyes, It's like you're peeking right inside the womb.

We saw the eyes, the nose, ears, cheeks, big round cheeks. It was phenomenal. Technology has given birth to the 4-d ultrasound. But, should it be used indiscriminately? We're seeing the beginning of an emerging technology which may some day replace 2-d ultrasound, said Dr. Todd Rosen of Morristown Memorial Hospital. With such striking images, it's no surprise that some parents-to-be are requesting 4-d ultrasound. In fact, there are keep sake companies popping up all over New York and across America, some even advertising on-line about its services to capture 4-d ultrasound pictures of unborn babies.

But, the FDA and now the American College of Radiology support the position that fetal ultrasound should only be performed for medical purposes with a prescription from an appropriately licensed provider. Dr. Fergal Malone is with the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and says parents should proceed with caution. The 4-d ultrasound machine is a diagnostic tool, it's not an entertainment tool. If you do entertainment sonography, there is very little criteria on how to handle it if an abnormality is found.

Traditionally, 2d ultrasound has been the gold standard in pre-natal diagnosis of using technology with sound waves to look inside the body. However, 4-d or four- dimensional ultrasound is becoming a valuable ancillary tool for doctors when in select cases there are questions that arise from 2-d images. The images are in color and recorded in real time, allowing doctors to see the baby in motion and its organs at work. According to Dr. Rosen, It may help us pick up heart defects better. We may be able to see skeletal anomalies. Our hope is that we'll pick up more babies with birth defects. And more information is exactly what Ed and Wendy Denmead were seeking when doctors questioned the development of their baby's feet. The 4-d ultrasound, which is usually performed between the 24th and 34th week of pregnancy, confirmed that Baby Dunmead has club feet, a condition where the baby's feet are turned inward. This information gave the Dunmead family the ability to appropriately plan for their baby's birth.

4-d ultrasound typically costs anywhere from $200-$350 dollars. Insurance may or may not cover it, depending on the medical necessity. You should first discuss it with your physician and insurance company to avoid surprises. If you decide to go to a free-standing ultrasound center, in New York or elsewhere, medical experts urge you to make sure that board certified physicians, either radiologists or obstetricians, are supervising with licensed sonographers performing the ultrasound.

For more information on ultrasound, click here.