What an Ultrasound Can (and Can't) Tell Us About Your Health

When you’re dealing with bothersome or perplexing symptoms, figuring out the cause is important for ensuring your health moving forward. And while discussing your symptoms with a specialist can be extremely important, many conditions require a closer look. That’s where ultrasounds come in.

Our expert team, including Jeffery Tun, MD, and Anton Sabiev, MD, at the offices of Jeffery Tun, MD, in Midtown East, Forest Hills, and the Queens neighborhoods in New York City, provides ultrasounds using state-of-the-art technology to accurately diagnose and assess conditions so that you can get the best possible treatment.

Read on to learn more about ultrasounds, including what they can reveal about your health.

How ultrasounds work

Ultrasounds use soundwaves to give your provider a clear view of an area inside your body. Doppler ultrasounds, which we provide at Dr. Tun’s office, highlight moving materials in your body, such as blood. 

Your ultrasound technician glides a handheld device across your skin on the area being examined. Meanwhile, soundwaves move through your body, producing images without the need for incisions or injections.

What your ultrasound can reveal about your health

Because ultrasound images aren’t as detailed as those from other scans, such as MRIs and CTs, they can’t be used to fully diagnose conditions like cancer. Your provider would be able to see a tumor on an ultrasound, for example, but not whether or not it’s cancerous. (A biopsy would likely be needed for that.)

Ultrasounds can help your provider view your uterus, ovaries, and baby during pregnancy, and also guide a needle for biopsies or tumor treatment. They can also allow your doctor to evaluate parts of your body that may be affected by disease or injuries, such as your thyroid, prostate gland, gallbladder, and joints. 

Your provider at Jeffery Tun, MD, may use your Doppler ultrasound results to diagnose or assess a range of conditions that may be affecting your cardiovascular health, such as:

• An aneurysm
• Blood clots
• A defective heart valve
• Venous insufficiency

After your procedure, which takes about an hour, Dr. Tun will help you understand your results.

Reasons we may recommend a Doppler ultrasound

Dr. Tun or Dr. Sabiev may suggest a Doppler ultrasound if you’re showing signs or symptoms of a heart or artery-related condition. Such signs may include:

• Bulging or painful veins
• Heart palpitations
• Lightheadedness or fainting
• Nausea
• Shortness of breath
• Swollen abdomen, ankles, arms, or legs
• Weakness

In these cases, your ultrasound may be performed as an alternative to more invasive options, like angiography, which involves injections of dye into your blood vessels so that they appear clearly on an X-ray.

To learn more about ultrasounds or to get the care you need, call one of our offices or request an appointment through our website today.