January 2006 | Vol. 24, No. 1

SVU Endorses AIUM Statement on the Prudent Use of Ultrasound during Pregnancy

The SVU Board of Directors recently approved unanimously a motion at its Dec. 2005 Board Meeting to endorse an AIUM statement on the prudent use of ultrasound during pregnancy, which was included in a Nov. 29, 2005 AIUM news release on "AIUM Discourages the Sale and Use of Ultrasound Equipment for Personal Use in the Home."

The AIUM Statement is:
“The AIUM advocates the responsible use of diagnostic ultrasound. The AIUM strongly discourages the nonmedical use of ultrasound for psychosocial or entertainment purposes. The use of either two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound to only view the fetus, obtain a picture of the fetus, or determine the fetal gender without a medical indication is inappropriate and contrary to responsible medical practice. Although there are no confirmed biological effects on patients caused by exposures from present diagnostic ultrasound instruments, the possibility exists that such biological effects may be identified in the future. Thus ultrasound should be used in a prudent manner to provide medical benefit to the patient.”

Recently a movie star announced that he had purchased an ultrasound machine for personal use. AIUM also is concerned about the emergence of businesses promoting ultrasound services for entertainment purposes by taking ultrasound photos of babies in a mother’s womb, without medical benefit.