Here's a variation of the article. However I do want to state because this comes up often when discussing causation, just because something has not happened to you or somebody you know does not mean there is no risk. Please, always keep that in mind no matter what the argument. Not every baby whose mother does meth or smokes pot will have a baby with issues. Not every mother who smokes will have a baby with issues. Not every mother who drinks coffee will have a baby with issues. Not every drunk driver will go out and kill somebody. These studies simply indicate an increase in risk and not that the risk is absolute. Huge difference when you study science. Just so, a growing number of folk do believe ultrasound use increases the risk of autism and other disorders/defects. And, it really has very little to do with quantity and everything to do with quality. You can have one ultrasound total during your pregnancy and if the transducer is left in one area too long, that's enough to superheat your baby's flesh and brain.
Anyhow
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Ultrasound may affect fetal brains: study
Updated Tue. Aug. 8 2006 10:29 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Scientists are investigating whether ultrasound scans during pregnancy may harm the brains of unborn babies.
The move follows a U.S. study which showed that when pregnant mice were exposed to ultrasound, their developing offspring suffered brain abnormalities.
The researchers, from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, said the changes prompted by the ultrasounds were small and insisted that pregnant women should not stop having the scans.
Early ultrasound scans are done to determine the exact week of the pregnancy and they are also done later to check for anatomical defects and other problems.
Ultrasound waves bounce off tissue and the echoes can be used to create a 3D image of the baby.
But the waves, which are at a high enough frequency to penetrate flesh, also induce vibrations in the tissue and can lead to a rise in temperature, suggesting they could cause damage.
The team now plans further research on monkeys to see if similar effects occur in larger, more human-like brains.
If the same thing happens, there could be implications for the use of ultrasound to check on babies inside the womb.
"Those upcoming studies should give us information that will be more directly applicable to uses of USW (ultrasound waves) in humans," research leader Dr Pasko Rakic told the Associated Press.
"I want to emphasize that our study in mice does not mean that use of ultrasound on human fetuses for appropriate diagnostic and medical purposes should be abandoned," he said.
"On the contrary, ultrasound has been shown to be very beneficial in the medical context. Instead, our study warns against its non-medical use."
Rakic's paper said that while the effects of ultrasound in human brain development are not yet known, there are disorders thought to be the result of misplacement of brain cells during their development.
"These disorders range from mental retardation and childhood epilepsy to developmental dyslexia, autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia," the researchers said.
'Entertainment' ultrasound
The findings come just a few months after Tom Cruise bought girlfriend Katie Holmes a sonogram machine for her to use at home while she was expecting the couple's first child -- daughter Suri.
Dr. Joshua Copel, president-elect of the American Institute of Ultrasound Medicine, said his organization tries to discourage "entertainment" ultrasound, but considers sonograms important when there is a medical benefit.
"Anytime we're doing an ultrasound we have to think of risk versus benefit. What clinical question are we trying to answer," Copel told AP.
"It may be very important to know the exact dating of pregnancy, it's certainly helpful to know the anatomy of the fetus, but we shouldn't be holding a transducer on mom's abdomen for hours and hours and hours."
In the mice study, the scientists injected more than 335 unborn mice still in their mother's wombs with special markers to track neuronal development.
Brain cells in fetal mammals multiply early and then migrate to their final destinations. Where they end up in the brain defines their connectivity and function.
Previous research has shown that when this process is upset by genetic or environmental factors such as alcohol or drugs, it can lead to mental impairment.
However, the scientists stressed that they do not know whether the changes caused by ultrasound would be large enough to alter behaviour.
The research was reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
