What is the clinical value of ultrasonography and its importance?

  Patients are generally aware of ultrasound and that it is important, but what is its value and importance? I am afraid that few people can answer this question. As an ultrasonographer, let me give you a brief introduction.  Ultrasound examination can generally be divided into routine examination, related examination, special examination, intervention, etc.  1, routine examination: generally can be divided into: pre-surgical routine examination, regular physical examination, obstetric routine examination, etc.  The pre-surgical examination mainly checks whether the patient has serious internal diseases and can tolerate the surgery. For example, pre-surgical ultrasound examination of malignant tumor of stomach and intestine can determine whether there are metastases in liver and abdominal cavity, which is important for whether the patient can be operated and the patient’s prognosis.  The importance of regular health checkups cannot be overstated. Ultrasound can detect early malignant tumors, such as liver cancer and kidney cancer, before the physical examinee shows symptoms, and once detected, surgery can be performed in time, which can significantly improve the prognosis of patients. With the development of the economy, various organizations are paying more and more attention to the medical examination of their employees, which also proves this point. Our ultrasound center has been able to detect several cases of early malignant tumors in the health checkups of some units every year.  The clinical value and importance of obstetric ultrasonography is well known. Some of the larger malformations of the fetus, such as cleft lip, malformation of the heart, spina bifida, hydrocephalus, short limbs, and ectopia of internal organs, rely mainly on the detection of ultrasound.  2.Related examination: Generally, it refers to the relevant ultrasonic examination after the patient’s symptoms appear in order to exclude some disorders. Specifically, trauma patients undergo liver, spleen and kidney examination to see if there is rupture of internal organs; patients with acute abdomen can choose specific ultrasound examination items to exclude some common diseases, such as: biliary colic, renal colic, ectopic pregnancy, corpus luteum rupture, ovarian cyst torsion, etc.; if right upper abdominal pain with nausea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal symptoms occur, the liver, gallbladder and pancreas need to be examined to exclude Hematuria with/without lumbar pain requires examination of kidney, ureter and bladder to exclude urinary stones or bladder tumor; lower abdominal pain, irregular vaginal bleeding, abnormal leucorrhea and menstrual disorders require gynecological examination to exclude gynecological tumor and inflammation.  3, special examination: ultrasound contrast examination is an emerging technology, at present the clinical application is mainly in the liver, kidney, prostate and other organs examination, it uses the contrast agent in and out of the mass of different characteristics thus the benign and malignant identification of liver, kidney, prostate tumors and the detection rate of micro tumors is quite helpful. Transrectal examination of the prostate is much clearer than transabdominal examination, which helps a lot in the diagnosis of prostate hyperplasia and prostate malignancy; transvaginal examination of the uterine ovaries plays a key role in the early detection of ectopic pregnancy and endometrial diseases.  4.Interventional diagnosis and treatment: ultrasound-guided puncture treatment of liver and kidney cysts, kidney biopsy and other techniques are inseparable from ultrasound. With the development of ultrasound technology, ultrasound is no longer a simple diagnostic technique, it also has the function of treatment. For example, HIFU high-intensity focused ultrasound, which can use the energy of ultrasound to treat diseases such as uterine fibroids and liver tumors, provides more options for clinical treatment of such diseases.  In summary, ultrasound examination has important clinical value, which promotes clinical development and provides great convenience and help to patients. It is believed that with the further development of ultrasound, it will definitely bring more benefits to patients.