Key Point: We do not know that modern ultrasound devices are safe.

Ultrasound is Not Unsound, But Safety is an Issue.

(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19402099)

Salvesen KA, Lees C. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2009 May; 33(5):502-5. PMID:19402099

Full article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/uog.6381/full

National Center for Fetal Medicine, St Olav University Hospital of Trondheim and Department of Laboratory Medicine, Women’s and Child Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Contact: pepes@ntnu.no

Abstract

We do not know that modern ultrasound devices are safe. Most of the available epidemiological evidence on ultrasound safety is derived from B-mode scanners in use before the mid 1990s. There are hardly any epidemiological data on the use of color flow or pulsed wave Doppler, and today’s scanners can produce 10–15 times higher output levels than did these earlier scanners2. If biological effects of ultrasound are dose-dependent, this updated review of the epidemiological literature is not helpful at all for present-day ultrasound operators and pregnant women.