The Risks of Ultrasound Scans for the Mother and the Unborn Child

 

Do ultrasound scans need to be done?

In the late eighties, over 100 million people around the globe had been through ultrasound scans prior to being born. Nowadays, nearly every woman who is pregnant throughout Europe as well as North America will have at the very least one ultrasound test during her pregnancy. The majority of expectant mothers are first referred to have an ultrasound during their first antenatal appointment. only a handful of them doubt whether they are required and even fewer are aware of the possible harm. Many women's magazines, news and pregnancy books generally advocate ultrasound scans for the safety and development of the fetus. Despite the fact that there is no research that confirms that an ultrasound scan has greater benefits than not having one. In a statement issued by ACOG in ACOG stated that American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) acknowledged that no controlled study has yet proved that regular scans of pregnant women will enhance the outcomes of pregnancy.

However researchers from New York studied 15,000 pregnant women who had ultrasound scans. They concluded that scanning provided no benefits whatsoever in any of the risk categories such as premature babies, fetal death, multiple births, late-term-pregnancies, etc. To be honest, to now ultrasound scans haven't provided any data relevant to clinic practice. In fact there's more evidence as than at any other time that ultrasound scans could be harmful for the mother and unborn baby. In the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (AIMS), England has documented cases of women who had to abort their healthy and fit newborns due to incorrectly interpreted scans. It's almost impossible to determine the number of women who went through similar situations since most of them are not documented.

In 1990 , researchers in Finland carried out a huge study using ultrasound. The ultrasound scans identified 250 women suffering from placesnta previain early pregnancy, a condition in which the placenta is low, which can stop the baby from being born vaginally. The mothers were advised that they could be awaiting the possibility of a Caesarean delivery. However, when it came time to the birth of their child there were only four women who were born with the previa placenta. Most of the time the placenta was moved away from the way as the womb started to expand. In contrast, the group that did not receive ultrasound scans, also included four women suffering from the previa of their placenta and all had their babies in a safe manner.

Human Guinea pigs

Even though reputable medical journals such as the Lancet, The Canadian Medical Association Journal, and the New England Journal of Medicine have written about the dangerous consequences of using ultrasound however, the mainstream medical profession has almost completely disregarded the negative evidence. The FDA has expressed its opinion on the risks of using ultrasound. According to an article from The Associated Press, their position regarding the method is this: "Ultrasound is a form of energy, and even at low levels, laboratory studies have shown that it can produce physical effects in tissue, such as jarring vibrations and a rise in temperature... prenatal ultrasounds can't be considered innocuous."

Women from all over the world, not conscious of the potential dangers to health of ultrasounds participate in the biggest medical experiment ever conducted. Their infants are the guinea-pigs in this study. They are vulnerable to harmful external and internal influences because their delicate electromagnetic fields are deformed, misaligned , or damaged by high-frequency ultrasound. Exposure to that is not natural and unsuitable for humans of any age. We shouldn't rely only on diagnostic machines simply because they are less likely to commit errors than doctors. All results must be correctly interpreted before they can be used as a basis to treatment. As shown in the preceding report, 98.4 percent of the first-time complications that women experienced during their pregnancy went away by themselves, simply because the body can manage these problems without intervention. The machines don't realize that the results they give could result in incorrect diagnoses.

False diagnosis isn't the only issue that could be caused by using ultrasound without discrimination. In 1993, Australian researchers looked at three hundred women and found that regular ultrasound scans between 18 and 38 weeks of gestation could result in babies as large as three times smaller than normal. Similar studies found that babies who been treated to Dopplerultrasound (to examine the blood supply of the baby) were born with a lower weight than those who did not have the scan.

If the weight at birth of a newborn is decreased by ultrasound, what are other functions that are more vital to baby's development? A professor from Calgary, Canada, discovered that children suffered from speech disorders twice as often after being exposed to ultrasound during the mother's womb. Dr. James Campbell from Canada found that even one scan during pregnancy might be enough to cause delay in speech. Norwegian studies suggest that ultrasound scanning may cause small brain injuries in the developing fetus.

A massive Swedish study found a connection between the scanning of ultrasounds and left-handedness that is typically due to a slight brain damage that occurs during pregnancy. The study showed that there was a 32 percent higher chance of being left-handed in the ultrasound group as contrasted with a non-scanned control group. Since the year 1975 when physicians began intensive ultrasound scanning in the latter stages of the gestation period (usually to find out the baby's sex) the rates of left-handedness have dramatically increased, especially in male babies.

Ultrasound was accepted as a tool for medical diagnosis, but in a different classification as that used for approving medicines. The scientific community has yet to study the impact of the different energy sources. So long as that's an issue, all ultrasound scans are covered under legal protection. The absence of any studies that prove the security of ultrasound scans must be considered a warning to doctors and pregnant women.

But the scan of a pregnant women has become regular practice nowadays that many women are reluctant to live without the procedure. Scans offer parents the chance to meet their child long before the time it's born even though women could be connected to their infants prior to the invention of ultrasound. Nowadays, you can determine the gender of your baby, female or male that leaves no chance for guessing. It is also possible to determine the exact date for delivery but, as long as there aren't any complications it is possible to calculate the date of birth for your baby by yourself. An ultrasound scan can tell you the presence of Down's syndrome, but it does not reveal how severe the disease is. The additional information ultrasound may provide is of little or no difference since babies can't be treated prior to or immediately after the time of birth. After reviewing all the findings from studies that have been published with ultrasound scans group of physicians from Switzerland could not find evidence to suggest that using ultrasound may improve the health of infants.

In addition, a massive study conducted of a large trial study in United States concluded that receiving an ultrasound scan resulted in no change in the prenatal mortality rate or for sick babies as compared to not having an ultrasound. What's most alarming is the fact that the most advanced ultrasound technology is set to be used without any trial. It is made up of a vaginal probe which is covered with the condom, and is inserted into the vagina of the woman's. With the advancement of technology, doctors will be able to get an improved view of the fetus, but the baby will also receive more ultrasound.

Although an increasing percentage doctors are concerned about the widespread scanning of pregnant women are not aware about the potential negative effects that can be triggered by the use of scans. The scans are routinely prescribed, however you are able to decline one. A scan using ultrasound should only be considered when women experience discomfort or complications that a physician or midwife is unable to find a reason. However, these cases are extremely very rare. At present the use of ultrasound has been repeatedly demonstrated to not make any impact on the result of an unintended pregnancy.