If you suffer from severe but short bouts of abdominal pain, you may fear the worse about your health. You may even ask your doctor for an explanation of your pain. But if your doctor can't detect the cause of your short bouts of pain, contact an imaging center soon. You may need an ultrasound scan completed on your abdomen.
Learn how an ultrasound scan can help you and your doctor learn the cause of your abdominal pain below.
What Do Ultrasound Scans Look For?
Many things can lead to or cause unexplained abdominal pain, including gallstones and stomach ulcers. Although some causes of abdominal pain can be seen right away, some causes may not be so easy to diagnose. In this case, a doctor may recommend their patients undergo ultrasound scans.
Ultrasound scans work similarly to radiographs or X-rays. X-rays use special electromagnetic rays, or radiation, to view the organs inside your body. Although X-rays are relatively safe to use on patients, the technique may see or pick up everything inside the body. Ultrasound scans can reveal everything inside the body, including internal bleeding and bruising.
Ultrasound scans use sound waves to see inside your body. When sound waves enter a hollow or thin organ like your gallbladder, they pass through it without reacting. But once sound waves encounter or bump into something hard or thick, they bounce around or scatter. The bouncing waves create an image for doctors to view on screen.
If you think an ultrasound scan will help discover the cause of your abdominal pain, contact an imaging center and request services today.
How Do You Prepare for an Ultrasound Scan?
An imaging center may need a referral from your physician or health insurance provider before they complete an ultrasound on your abdomen. After you receive what you need from your doctor and/or health insurance company, a center will schedule your ultrasound.
You may need to make some preparations for your ultrasound prior to your appointment. For example, if a center plans to do a full abdominal scan on you, you may need to avoid eating the night before your appointment. The contents in your stomach may interfere with your scan or make it difficult to see inside your organs.
An imaging center will most likely give you a list of things you can and can't do prior to your ultrasound.
You can call or contact an imaging center, such as Hudson Valley Imaging, online or by phone for the services you need today.
Share31 August 2022
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