Oooh what have you come across to make this decision?
I ask as a Radiographer, whos colleuage did their literature review on the safety of U/S. Of course all studies on pregnant animals but he did find a risk with prolonged exposure. I.e small cells being exposed for 1 -2 mins causing cell death/mutation and 3-4 minutes causing definite death to the animals featus.
Fascinating. And hence why all diagnostic tools are used with the Benefits outweigh the risks. ALARA the laws for use of diagnostic tools states the Benefits Must Outweigh the Risks. Everything has a potential risk.
My BFF also a radiographer had no scans until 20 weeks and then nothing after that. She yolod it and has 4 healthy children.and another on the way.
I was on the fence but unless medically warrented, no scans until 12 weeks and then 20 and then nothing else. Unless medically justified. I.e if I start cramping or bleeding etc.
U/S heats up the cells and an increase of 1°c is enough to cause cell death/mutations. Hence why there is therapeutic use for U/S. After my whiplash injury my physio used U/S exact same as the hospital and focussed for minutes in one spot to heat up and incourage blood flow. On growing cells it has the opposite affect as they are in a vupnerable state of cell division. It is a reason why for example we offer radiation protection to radio sensitive organs as they are most likely to suffer mutations these are the eyes, thyroid, spleen, breast tissue, gonads.
It also is a head scratcher about flying while pregnant. One of the first things we learnt in my degree is that a 3 hour flight is equivalent of a chest X-ray (attenuation of radiation) and a 13-14 hour flight is equivalent to a full body CT scan. Which we do not offer routinely to pregnant women without medical justification..... So why are they flying?????? No one could amswer me this.
So I personally do not fly in my pregnancies and I do not visit radioactive hotspots in the UK. Again learnt this in my degree. Edinburgh and Cornwall/Devon area have higher radiation coming from the ground due to rocks.
The more you know