Ultrasound - Common Medical Tourism Procedures

Definition:

An ultrasound scanning commonly known as sonography  is a non invasive, painless diagnostic procedure in which the ultra sound (high frequency sound waves that can not be heard by humans) are used to create images of the internal organs and tissue structure of body

Preparation for the procedure

• For the abdominal ultrasound, patient may require to fast for 4-5 hours before the test.
• Patient going for  kidney-ureter-bladder, pelvic organs and pregnancy related scanning are usually asked to  drink 6-10 glass of water 1-2 hours before the scanning and needs to avoid urination, as urinary bladder has to be full during procedure to have proper scanning. However, patient needs to empty bladder completely in case of transvaginal ultrasound.
• No specific preparation is required for small parts scanning such as thyroid, breast or testicles.
• Wear comfortable loose clothes
• Other additional preparation may depend  on the type of procedure.(therapeutic, diagnostic)

During the procedure

• The diagnostic ultrasound scanning generally takes about 30min to 1hour and can be done in  outpatient  department of hospital or at health care provider’s clinic
• Patient needs to lie on an examination table and may ask to loosen the garments depending on the part of the body to be scanned.
  The special gel will be applied on the skin to obtain the clear image of body parts and to  fascilitate the easy movement of the transducer(probe) over the skin.
• The radiologist or specialist will move a transducer on the skin of the targeted area to obtain image of internal organ.
• Some times patient may experience  discomfort or mild  pain if the transducer is pressed too hard.
• The gel will be wiped off when the procedure is completed and usually  patient can resume their normal activity immediately. 

Risk

According to the Food and Drug Administration ultrasound scanning is one of the most safest non invasive painless diagnostic procedure.

Ultrasound scan uses

• Diagnostic ultrasound scanning is done to detect the disorders of various parts and organs of the body such as liver, kidneys-ureter-bladder, ovaries, uterus, testes, breast and joints etc.
• They are beneficial to diagnose various disease conditions including ovarian cyst, uterine endometriosis, renal stone, gall stones, thyroid or parathyroid gland tumor or growth etc.
• The specialized type of ultrasound scan known as Echocardiography is used to examine the heart and blood stream(Doppler ultrasound)
• Diagnostic ultrasound scan is most commonly used for the routine check up of the fetus growth and to detect any developmental or other abnormalities.
• In addition to diagnostic scanning, ultrasound is also used to perform various biopsy and therapeutic procedures.

Travelers guide

• Hospital admission is not required for diagnostic ultrasound scan and patient can resume normal activity immediately after the examination is completed. The result report can be obtained on same day.
• Medical tourist can expect to return back on the next day, however they should plan to stay for few days more to discuss the further treatment in cases of abnormal finding.