Top Cardiologists in Palm Beach Explain Duplex Ultrasound and What It Is Used For

Ultrasound is one of the most important advances in medical technology in recent decades. The word "ultrasound" refers to the fact that this imaging technology uses oscillating sound waves that are too high in frequency to be heard by the human ear. But these sound waves can be detected by instruments, and because they change in response to the materials they are passing through, top cardiologists in Palm Beach can use them to create images of things normally hidden from our view.

For example, ultrasound passes harmlessly through skin, bone, and muscle tissue, and thus can be used in medical science for imaging purposes. Ultrasound is much safer than the use of X-rays, and that is one of the reasons it is so extensively used in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Standard ultrasound shows doctors the internal structure of your body

As the high-frequency sound waves beam through the skin, they bounce off of bones, tendons, blood vessels, and organs, and thus create a kind of sonic "map" of what is being visualized. A computer then turns these returning sound signals into a two-dimensional, black, white, and gray picture of the limb or body parts being viewed.

Standard ultrasound is useful when trying to detect physical abnormalities in bones, blood vessels, or organs, and when determining if they are in their proper positions with regard to one another. For example, when examining the veins of your legs, as the ultrasound wand (technically known as the transducer) is moved over the area being examined, the doctor sees a 2D representation of the blood vessels, and can detect any fixed blockages in them, such as blood clots. What he can't see is the blood actually flowing through the veins.

Duplex ultrasound combines standard ultrasound with Doppler ultrasound

Doppler ultrasound is an enhancement to standard ultrasound scanning technology that adds color to the normally gray-scale images and allows the doctor to perceive motion inside the body. Thus Doppler ultrasound images can actually see blood flowing through veins and arteries, determine the direction of the flow, and see whether any obstacles are present that are blocking or impairing the flow.

Combining standard ultrasound technology with Doppler color ultrasound technology produces Duplex ultrasound. It is commonly used in cardiology to detect carotid occlusive disease, leg and arm arterial disease, aortoiliac occlusive disease, aneurysms, and many other conditions. Duplex ultrasound is also used in the diagnosis of vein diseases such as varicose veins and deep vein thrombosis.

An example of the information Duplex ultrasound creates

To illustrate how this technology may help your Delray Beach Cardiologist or Florida vein specialist diagnose your condition, Duplex ultrasound would clearly show the presence of chronic venous insufficiency or venous reflex. The blood flowing backwards into your veins as the result of diseased venous valves would be very distinct from the normal blood flow on its way back to the heart.

Duplex ultrasound is just one of the state-of-the-art technologies we use at South Palm Cardiovascular Associates to provide you with the most effective heart and vein disease treatments possible. If you want to find out more about the tests and diagnostic equipment we use to provide the best Vein Treatment Palm Beach, visit our website at http://www.southpalmcardiovascular.com/ or give us a call at 561-55-0080.

Author Bio: The writer is an expert in the field of Spider & vein treatments specialist in Vein Treatment Palm Beach and Delray Beach Cardiologist.

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