“Ultrasound can heat tissues slightly, and in some cases, it can also produce very small bubbles (cavitation) in some tissues,” said FDA biomedical engineer Shahram Vaezy, in a statement.

Doctors don’t yet know what the long-term effects of these changes are, so the FDA recommends that scans be done only when medically necessary and by trained operators. Similarly, Doppler ultrasound heartbeat monitors should be used by professionals only, it notes.

The agency particularly frowns on fetal keepsake videos, noting they have no medical benefit and that a fetus could be exposed to up to an hour of ultrasound at businesses that specialize in creating the 3D/4D images.

“While FDA recognizes that fetal imaging can promote bonding between the parents and the unborn baby, such opportunities are routinely provided during prenatal care,” the FDA says.

It cautions parents tempted to buy a keepsake video that there is no control on how long an imaging session will last, how many sessions will take place, or whether the machine will be operated properly."

http://www.today.com/…/ultrasound-warning-fda-recommends-ag…

Addressing these 3 issues will help medical research progress, promote tech jobs (which could help the economy and make use of that massive student debt many college grads have), and help ensure the safety of our future generations.

http://www.change.org/p/health-risks-of-prenatal-ultrasound…

X-Ray was not found to elicit this same effect, but when combined with ultrasound, lead to statistically significantly lower birth weight in that cohort.

Today's ultrasound machines for fetal imaging can produce ultrasound more than 10-fold as intense as the power levels used in this study. If these brief exposures with low energy usage were able to cause an observable change in mouse memory and learning, what do you think would happen if we repeated this experiment with mice using today's ultrasounds?

This number has been increasing exponentially over the years. In 2008 it was 1 in 88. In 2006, 1 in 110. In 2002, 1 in 150. What is causing this increase?

There are a variety of factors that may increase the likelihood that a child expresses symptoms of ASD, and there are environmental stresses (such as parental age and teratogens) that can trigger it.

Is prenatal sonography a potential trigger of ASD?

While there are no studies to date that conclusively show this link in humans, experiments using animal models have raised some questions. These are several feasible mechanisms through which ultrasound could be linked to autism. Here are just a few examples:

In one study, prenatal sonography was found to alter the sociability of mice in a way that was similar to autism (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24249575)

A preliminary vertical analysis of the brain tissue of those mice has shown some neuropathology very relevant to autism (publication pending, stay tuned).

In another study, ultrasonic exposure to rat gonads was shown to alter their testosterone levels (http://revistas.um.es/hh/article/viewFile/130341/121361)

Coincidentally, prenatal testosterone levels have been suggested to be linked to autism. But ultimately more research must be done in this area before this link is conclusive (http://www.nature.com/ne…/2009/090113/full/news.2009.21.html).

This link deserves further research.

Left handedness is considered normal for many people. However, it can also be induced by stress factors or brain damage during early development - especially because of anoxic stress. It is considered low on the heirarchy of casualty regarding brain damage.

Is it possible that excessive prenatal ultrasounds could induce left handedness? This study presents some evidence of that.

Something to note, though, is that potentiation of neural circuitry relies on such excitation. So, a fetus in the womb may also receive this stimulation during a sonogram.

The feasibility for this to alter the fetus's long term sensory system is salient, but more research is needed to investigate related biology and associated risks.

Their question was whether the injection of oxytocin would alter the efficiency of this treatment. It did. Injection of oxytocin lowered the amount of energy needed to destroy the cells by circa 1/2 to 2/3 or there-abouts. This suggests that oxytocin makes cells more sensitive to ultrasonic energy.

Oxytocin is present naturally in the mother at varying levels during pregnancy, and also is injected to induce labor in many modern births.

The underlying physical mechanism of how oxytocin increases the vulnerability of the cell to US remains to be clarified.

The risk of exposing the fetus's genitals to sufficient ultrasound to illicit hormone changes or altered neural function is real, and the risks have not been fully researched yet.

We know that ultrasound DOES alter brain function, firing, and may affect potentiation on animal models. We also know that ultrasound exposure to the genitals of animals alters their testosterone levels.

Prenatal testosterone levels are implicated as a possible cause for autism. This link warrants further research funding.