The wonder of color Doppler

3D ultrasonographers with color Doppler are providing new possibilities in clinical diagnosis. It visualizes vascular tissue (veins and arteries) on a TV screen as encoded by the computer in red and blue. This procedure facilitates the early and reliable detection of a number of diseases. With the use of Doppler a number of conditions can be detected such as ectopic pregnancy –that is, when the embryo is growing out of the womb– or if the umbilical cord is entangled around the baby’s neck posing risk to him or her.

It also makes it possible to monitor the fetus’s well-being by measuring (arterial) blood flow rates to detect if there is hypoxemia (poor oxygenation of baby), slow intrauterine growth or fetal suffering.

It is almost routinely used in gynecology. It is used, for example, to detect ovarian cancer and benign tumors. In these cases, when blood vessel strength is less than 0.5, cancer occurrence is very likely.

Due to its ever increasing accuracy and speedy, getting ultrasound images are a breakthrough for diagnosis. Moreover, it is the realization of many parents’ dream –knowing if their baby is doing fine before they come to this world.