Ultrasound imaging uses sound waves to produce pictures of the inside of the body. It helps diagnose the causes of pain, swelling and infection in the body’s internal organs and to examine a baby in pregnant women and the brain and hips in infants. It’s also used to help guide biopsies, diagnose heart conditions, and assess damage after a heart attack.

• guide procedures such as needle biopsies, in which needles are used to sample cells from an abnormal area for laboratory testing.
• image the breasts and guide biopsy of breast cancer.
• diagnose a variety of heart conditions, including valve problems and congestive heart failure, and to assess damage after a heart attack. Ultrasound of the heart is commonly called an “echocardiogram” or “echo” for short.

Doppler ultrasound images helps the physician to see and evaluate:

• blockages to blood flow (such as clots)
• narrowing of vessels
• tumors and congenital vascular malformations
• less than normal or absent blood flow to various organs
• greater than normal blood flow to different areas which is sometimes seen in infections