What can ultrasounds show?
Reasons for ultrasounds
Pregnancy ultrasounds can be very useful and provide a lot of information, but it is important to remember that they also have their limitations. The accuracy of a pregnancy ultrasound will very much depend on the qualifications, skill and experience of the ultrasonographer performing the examination, as well as their skill at interpreting the images. However.....
.....even the most experienced and skilled pregnancy ultrasonographers with the absolute best equipment can still miss things and misinterpret images, just less often!
Accurate ultrasound findings also depend on the stage of the pregnancy and what the ultrasound examination is trying to achieve. For example, it is very easy to determine the position of an unborn baby, but it requires a very experienced ultrasonographer to detect pregnancy problems or physical abnormalities in the baby. Even then, detecting some abnormalities is not always possible and in up to 10% of cases, a baby will be mistakenly thought to have an abnormality, but in fact be well and healthy.
NOTE: Some maternity caregivers purchase ultrasound machines to perform 'informal' ultrasounds at every pregnancy visit in their private rooms. (This is not an essential part of routine pregnancy visits and you can decline having this done if you prefer.) Generally, most maternity caregivers have very limited training in the use and interpretation of ultrasounds and can only provide a small amount of information. You would need a formal ultrasound performed by a qualified ultrasonographer (technologist) and reported on by a qualified sonologist (specialist doctor) to provide more detailed information and/or definitely confirm any possible findings by your maternity caregiver.
What can ultrasounds show?