An overview of what ultrasound helps find, grouped by specialty, with a note on what the exam does and does not do.
Ultrasound is used across the body to look for a wide range of conditions, and which conditions a sonographer encounters depends on their specialty. This page maps the common ones by specialty as a starting point. One thing holds throughout: ultrasound produces the images and measurements that help identify and characterize a finding, but the diagnosis itself is made by a physician.
Abdominal
Abdominal ultrasound is the front-line test for gallstones and gallbladder inflammation, and it evaluates liver disease (fatty liver, cirrhosis, masses), pancreatitis, an enlarged spleen, kidney stones, blocked urine flow, and abdominal aortic aneurysm. See Abdominal Sonography.
Vascular
Vascular ultrasound finds deep vein thrombosis (a clot in a deep leg vein), carotid artery narrowing that raises stroke risk, abdominal aortic aneurysm, peripheral arterial disease, and venous insufficiency. See Vascular Sonography.
OB/GYN
Obstetric and gynecologic ultrasound identifies ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, fetal structural anomalies, growth restriction, and placental problems, along with uterine fibroids and ovarian cysts and masses. See OB/GYN Sonography.
Cardiac
Echocardiography evaluates valve disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, fluid around the heart, and structural defects. The fetal heart is examined separately — see Fetal Echocardiography — and the adult heart in Cardiac Sonography.
Musculoskeletal
MSK ultrasound finds rotator-cuff tears, tendon and ligament injuries, joint inflammation, bursitis, cysts and soft-tissue masses, and nerve entrapment such as carpal tunnel syndrome. See Musculoskeletal Sonography.
Breast
Breast ultrasound distinguishes cysts from solid masses, characterizes suspicious masses that may be cancer, and evaluates lymph nodes and palpable lumps. See Breast Sonography.
Pediatric
Pediatric ultrasound finds bleeding in the brain of premature infants, developmental hip dysplasia, pyloric stenosis, and a range of congenital differences. See Pediatric Sonography.
What ultrasound does and does not do
Ultrasound is powerful, but it is one tool among several. For some questions it is the first and best test; for others it complements a CT, an MRI, or a mammogram. And in every case, the sonographer’s role is to produce the images and measurements — the interpreting physician makes the diagnosis. Sonography Specialties covers the specialties in full.