Ultrasound Help - Page 1

Hi all, 

I am new here and need advice. We took our dog to the vet on yesterday for our third ultrasound. She was last bred on 5/25. The first time we took her our vet said that it was too early to see pups but we did see what looked like 8 black sacs on the ultrasound. We took her back last Monday (6/23) and we saw three definite sacs with pups and one confirmed heartbeat. Then, we took her back yesterday just to follow up and now the vet is saying he isn't sure. I took a video yesterday and to me it appears that there are pups. If anyone can take a look and just give me their opinion I would greatly appreciate it. 

I think ultrasound is secret abortion tool, lol...I have heard many people complain that their bitch came up empty, after having confirmed pregnant with ultrasound. 

If the sound waves can penetrate the body of the bitch how cannot damage the developing embryos. Set too high, and the ultrasound would probably damage the bitch.

OMG,  it is not a secret abortion tool.

It is used for pregnant women regularly with no problems.  Less risk than an xray. 

I know! That's why I was questioning it. I know pups can be reabsorbed but to me it looks like they are still there. This will be her second litter and the first was completely normal. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't losing my mind in thinking it looked like a pretty normal ultrasound.

I wasn't concerned about the ultrasound safety (I am currently pregnant so I have had my fair share recently). But I just thought it looked like pups and when he said he wasn't sure I wanted to get other peoples opinions from their past experiences.

Problems with Sound and Heat

One challenge that ultrasound operators face is keeping the transducer positioned over the part of the fetus the operator is trying to visualize. When fetuses move away from the stream of high-frequency sound waves, they may be feeling vibrations, heat or both. As the FDA warned in 2004, "ultrasound is a form of energy, and even at low levels, laboratory studies have shown it can produce physical effect in tissue, such as jarring vibrations and a rise in temperature."(9) This is consistent with research conducted in 2001 in which an ultrasound transducer aimed directly at a miniature hydrophone placed in a woman's uterus recorded sound "as loud as a subway train coming into the station."(10)

A rise in temperature of fetal tissue—especially since the expectant mother cannot even feel it—might not seem alarming, but temperature increases can cause significant damage to a developing fetus's central nervous system, according to research.(11) Across mammalian species, elevated maternal or fetal body temperatures have been shown to result in birth defects in offspring.(12) An extensive review of literature on maternal hyperthermia in a range of mammals found that "central nervous system (CNS) defects appear to be the most common consequence of hyperthermia in all species, and cell death or delay in proliferation of neuroblasts [embryonic cells that develop into nerve cells] is believed to be one major explanation for these effects."(13)

Why should neurodevelopmental defects in rats or other mammals be of concern to expecting women? Because, as Cornell University researchers proved in 2001, brain development proceeds in the same manner "across many mammalian species, including human infants."(14) The team found "95 neural developmental milestones" that helped them pinpoint the sequence of brain growth events in different species.(15) Therefore, if repeated experiments show that elevated heat caused by ultrasound damages fetal brains in rats and other mammals, one can logically assume that it can harm human brains, too.

In fact, the FDA and professional medical associations know that prenatal ultrasound can be dangerous to humans, which is why they have consistently warned against the non-medical or "keepsake" ultrasound portrait studios that have cropped up in malls throughout the country.(16)

The risks to the baby are potentially higher in commercial enterprises due to the higher acoustic output required for high-definition images, a potentially long session—as technicians hunt for suitable images—and the employment of ultrasound operators who may have no medical background or appropriate training. These variables, along with factors such as cavitation (a bubbling effect caused by ultrasound that can damage cells) and on-screen safety indicators that may be inaccurate by a factor ranging from 2–6 (17), make the impact of ultrasound uncertain even in expert hands. Quite simply, if ultrasound can injure babies, it can cause the same damage whether done for routine, diagnostic or "entertainment" purposes.

Ultrasound Warnings Unheeded

The idea that a prenatal ultrasound can be hazardous is not new. The previously mentioned 1982 WHO report, in its summary "Effects of Ultrasound on Biological Systems," stated that "…animal studies suggest that neurological, behavioral, developmental, immunological, haematological changes and reduced fetal weight can result from exposure to ultrasound."(25)

Two years later, when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) held a conference assessing ultrasound risks, it reported that when birth defects occurred, the acoustic output was usually high enough to cause considerable heat.(26). Although the NIH has since stated that the report "is no longer viewed…as guidance for current medical practice," the facts remain unchanged.

Despite the findings of these two major scientific gatherings, in 1993 the FDA approved an eight-fold increase in the potential acoustical output of ultrasound equipment (27), greatly increasing the possibility of disastrous pregnancy outcomes caused by overheating. Can the fact that this increase in potential thermal effects happened during the same period of time the incidence of autism increased nearly 60-fold be merely coincidental?

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasoundrodgers.asp

This article is mainly about ultrasound and autism but the information contained can be applied to dogs as well.  

Dawn, I suggest you read the article in its entirety. Ultrasound is NOT SAFE.

Ultrasounds are very difficult to read and you need to have a vet that is experienced in reading ultrasounds otherwise it's a waste of time and money. I don't ultrasound until female is 30 days into pregnancy.

Thank you. I will. It is very interesting. Has anyone had an ultrasound that was similar to the one I posted in the video? We are not planning to get anymore but I would just like to know if anyone has had a similar experience and what the outcome was.

Yeah, our first ultrasound was too early. The second was at 30 days and that's when it was confirmed that she was pregnant. Then yesterday he said he wasn't sure. :/