Ultrasound scans in pregnancy

With the ultrasound scan, doctors can now assess the foetus at various stages of its development.

What is an ultrasound scan? Ultrasound uses very high frequency sound waves (3.5 to 7.0 megahertz) to show a picture of the baby in the womb. The sound waves are produced by a transducer or probe, which is placed on the mother’s abdomen and moved around to look at the baby in the womb. These sound waves then bounce off the foetus and are received by the transducer. The echoes from the waves are then converted into an image by the ultrasound machine. A “real-time” picture of the moving baby is captured on a monitor screen.