What information can an ultrasound provide at different stages of pregnancy? Know about it in this video from Dr. Uppals
In pregnancy, for instance, we are doing multiple ultrasounds and each of them has, you know, a value. In certain situations, it is a definitive answer and in certain situations, it is not so certain. Like the early pregnancy, an eight-week scan, we can figure out where the fetus is – intrauterine or extrauterine or this is a hundred percent pro. We don’t say that it is, you know, I don’t know whether it is intrauterine.
Secondly, if there is a fetal heart, we are very sure there’s a fetal heart. If there is no fetal heart, we are very sure there is no fetal heart. Then at the tenth-week scan, we look at fetal anatomy. We are very certain about certain abnormalities, like anencephaly, like the absence of the head at 12 weeks itself.
We can see some other abnormalities which are called for almost 40% of fetal abnormalities at 12 weeks. But of course, we cannot say about everything. Like I am not really certain about the heart and spine in the 12-week scan. So in that respect, it is not a certain scan that I can suspect something, but I may not be hundred percent.
So we want the 18-20 weeks scan, where I’m very certain about the spine. I may not be very certain about the lips, or I may not be very certain about the esophagus. So every scan is to be seen in the light of what information we are gathering. Now in the growth scans, there is a wide variation in what the people report as waves, but as a, as a rule of a thumb 15% variation is inherent in the technology.
