You can read the full text of the article here, the gist of it being that the FDA is warning against unneeded 'keepsake' ultrasounds as having no proven safety and being quite unregulated (i.e. done by non-professionals in unregulated environments).
I'm glad to see this article. But I had to say that there is one heck of a lot of flip-flopping in this article. They go back and forth with saying, "Ultrasound under a doctor's orders is completely safe with no known risks!" and "Ultrasound at one of those keepsake places is risky and has no proven safety record! Don't do it!" Ummm????? Ultrasound has never been proven completely safe under any circumstances, and just because a doctor or qualified tech is performing it doesn't mean that it's safe.
Additionally, if ultrasound is not proven safe anyway, why are doctors giving more and more and more ultrasounds? Some doctors now give them it seems about every four weeks, as well as on the fly for random reasons!
I don't have anything against needed ultrasound (not to mention that I just had one)- it's just that this article did seem a bit hypocritical. But I'm glad that they're willing to sound the alarm on keepsake sonography, which often does use higher intensity ultrasound (for 3D and 4D images) and is used quite frivolously in most cases.
Thoughts, anyone?
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