Why ultrasound gel

Images without source; from Shutterstock. All posts. Newcomers' Community. Steemit Feedback. Explore communities…. Reasons for using gel for ultrasound. Do you remember? Before ultrasound scanning, one thing is prepared. It is the gel. The gel is applied to the scan area, before contacting the ultrasound probe to your body.

Why is this gel used? The Principle of Ultrasound Ultrasonic waves generated from the probe are reflected from the boundary of the tissue, and the probe receive reflected waves to make an ultrasound image. Is the gel safe? Have you ever seen such a machine in the ultrasound room? To Conclude…. This is a particularly common sight when scanning a foetal rib cage. Quite simply, the brighter the object is on your monitor, the bigger the reflection and hence the greater the difference between the acoustic impedance of your sound waves and that of the object you are imaging ; the darker it is, the fewer reflections you are receiving back and in the case of fluid-filled structures, you are not receiving any echoes.

Clearly, if your ultrasound waves encounter air between the transducer and the animal, the vast majority of your ultrasound energy is going to come straight back to you. There is little need to give mathematical examples here; suffice to say, if the density and stiffness of one material is very different to that of another, there will be a large acoustic mismatch, and thus a large resulting echo.

It is quite obvious that the properties of soft tissue in terms of its density and stiffness are very different to that of air. Ultrasound physicists will often talk about the amplitude reflection coefficient, which is the ratio of reflected to incident pressure.

Between soft tissue and air, however, it is So now that we can see how important it is to have an acoustic couplant, does it matter what exactly is used?

For the safety of your patient, it is important that you take pride in generating the clearest images possible, and using correctly formulated ultrasound gel is one cheap and easy way that you can get the most out of your machine.

AquaSonic — one of the world leaders in ultrasound gel. So although it might be a messy exam, an ultrasound study is an excellent tool for imaging our young patients. This blog does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Learn More ». Ultrasound Gel: A Necessary Mess. Photo: Gel on transducer. Write a Comment Nickname Email Message. Subscribe Never miss a post! Sign up to get new blog updates delivered to your email.