Ultrasound

The slightly blurry black-and-white image on the screen of an ultrasound scanner in a darkened hospital room is a sight familiar to many of us. Whether determining the sex of a fetus or getting to the bottom of a mysterious heart murmur, this tool is used in a wide range of diagnostic procedures.

It is easy to take this well-known device for granted; however, a better understanding of how the ultrasound scanner works explains why its images seem so hard to decipher. As the name suggests, the wand of an ultrasound scanner is actually a microphone that uses sound waves to produce a moving picture of the inside of the body. The sound waves emitted from the microphone bounce off the patient’s internal organs before being picked up again by the microphone as they bounce back. These waves are transmitted to an at-tached computer, which generates a visual representation of the part of the body being scanned. Although the image often looks strangely fuzzy to the untrained eye, it is in fact incredibly detailed and in many cases allows the physician to get a clear picture of the patient’s soft tissue without having to resort to invasive surgery.

Because of its wide range of functions, The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) employs a fleet of ultrasound scanners serving several departments. Like all hospital equipment, these have a limited lifespan, and many of the current scanners are due for replace-ment. To maintain the highest standards of patient care, the MUHC is looking to purchase 12 new ultrasound scanners at approxi-mately $250,000 each – a worthwhile investment in helping doctors get the big picture on their patients’ health.

This series is intended to be informative. The McGill University Health Centre Foundation does not endorse any particular manufac-turer or model of the equipment shown and described here.