Concerns over how safe are ultrasounds scans and dopplers?

[sue10]

Hi ladies,
im just wondering if you can help me, i have been researching the use of the above and have found conflicting arugments for and against!!! After many mc's and early scan etc i am just wondering if you use dopplers etc and have all the scans offered to you? Also some are against the 4D scans as they say the pitch is extremely high and studies have not been caried out to show the effects as yet. I guess they wouldn't be allowed to be used if they were dangerous but just wondered what others thought?
Thanks and goodluck with your pregnancies
XXX.

Sorry I sound like Im scare-mongering. It's just my gut feeling for me but I just think if you need it best let the professionals do it.

Is there not a study out there showing that repeated and early USS in women with recurring M/Cs increases the chance of succesfull pregnancy outcome? Or is it just lots of support and close monitoring and TLC that improved outcomes?

Riven - respect to always finding sources and quoting were you have info from to back your contributions up! I tuck away radom bits of information that I then regurgitate in a random fashion as well..

I have had 7 pregnancies in total - 4 early MMCs, 2 "normal" pregnancies and 1 pregnancy with Grade 4 placenta praevia.
Personally I have found early and frequent scanning nothing but reassuring and certainly ensured that a problem with DS2 was picked up early - and that we were told there was no problem with DS3.

I stopped short of owning my own doppler because I think that would have just totally driven me round the bend .

Good luck, whatever you decide!

I think that it's healthy to think about these things rather than just go along with the flow, but I had the 12 and 20 week scans for both of my pregnancies. I felt that the diagnostic benefit outweighed any small risk. I wouldn't have a 3D or 4D scan just to see the baby though - for me it just wasn't important enough to warrant the extra ultrasound.

I had a lot of scans with dd1 - 10 in the end.

7 weeks - some bleeding - knew she was ok

12 week dating scan - changed my due date radically

20 weeks - she would not roll over and so could not check heart and other parts

21 weeks - finally got to see heart to see that she had a very serious heart defect.

22 weeks - fetal cardiac scan for correct diagnosis.

22 weeks anomaly scan to take measurements to check if dd1 was showing any other markers for down syndrome - we were told at this stage that if she were born without it - it would be incredibly rare.

24 weeks - 2 scans - fetal cardiac scan and anomaly scan

Enabled decisions to be made regarding dd1's birth and location of birth - whether local hospital or London. Enabled dh and I to tour NICU and SCBU and meet staff.

36 weeks monitor growth and condition

around 38 weeks - 9.30 appt for scan - dd1 born 11.08am. discovered that basically my placenta had packed it in and that she really needed to be born. So was by emergency c-section.

If I had not had those scans I think it could have been a much worse outcome for all of us.

Those scans were not undertaken lightly and I am someone who researches all that is going to be done to me and what possible outcomes are there. However I know that having those scans during that pregnancy was the right decision for us.

Hi there all,

Just to say, I was completely set on getting a 3D scan and video so that baby could have a momento when it was older.

It was only when I was reading some of the posts on mumsnet that I even realised there could be problems with scans which to be honest irritated me as, like many of you say, they've been used for years and no-one ever mentions that there might be problems with them. Let's face it, you could probably google 'dangers of yoghurt' and get a million scary stories.

When I did do the research though, I decided that I definitely wouldn't be having one done and would now only have US if it's medically necessary. There have been several studies which have indicated that US can alter neurological development both in human foetus and in animal studies. The Obstetrics society and the Food and Drugs Agency in the USA advise that US should only be done for medical reasons.

It's without doubt that US is an important diagnostic tool and that it's all about weighing up the advantages and disadvantages. I have to have more than normal just to monitor fibroids that I have and am fine with that, especially as they all last less than 30 mins as well. I definitely won't be having any unnecessarily though. Pretty much the consensus people have here I think.

Good luck with it all!

I totally agree with you Hybrid, i think there really should be more studies carried out especially with the 4D scans, it's quite worrying really!
Best wishes
XXX.