Ultrasound Tech Careers

Job Description

Sonographers, also called ultrasound technicians and diagnostic medical sonographers, use ultrasound high frequency sound waves to produce images of internal body tissues to help a physician diagnose and monitor a variety of conditions such as heart disease, pregnancy and cancer.

Working directly with patients, sonographers explain the procedure to patients, operate the machine, gather and record patient histories, process and analyze diagnostic sonographic data, and provide a summary of findings to physicians for diagnosis. Many sonographers also assist in patient scheduling, record keeping and computerized image archiving.

Career Outlook

Opportunities should be favorable because sonography is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative to radiologic procedures, as patients seek safer treatment methods. Unlike most diagnostic imaging methods, sonography does not involve radiation, so harmful side effects and complications from repeated use are rarer for both the patient and the sonographer.

Hospitals will remain the principal employer of diagnostic medical sonographers. However, employment is expected to grow more rapidly in offices of physicians and in medical and diagnostic laboratories, including diagnostic imaging centers.

Specialty Areas

Cardiovascular Sonography

Cardiovascular Technologists perform electrocardiograms (EKGs), ambulatory monitoring, and graded exercise diagnostic examinations, as well as basic x-ray and laboratory procedures. Cardiovascular Technologists are employed in hospitals, cardiologists' offices, cardiology mobile units, and many other health care facilities.

Abdominal Sonography

Abdominal sonographers inspect a patient’s abdominal cavity to help diagnose and treat conditions primarily involving the gallbladder, bile ducts, kidneys, liver, pancreas, and spleen. Abdominal sonographers also are able to scan parts of the chest, although studies of the heart using sonography usually are done by echocardiographers.

Obstetric-Gynecological Sonography

Obstetric-Gynecological sonographers specialize in the study of the female reproductive system. Included in the discipline is one of the more well-known uses of sonography: examining the fetus of a pregnant woman to track the baby’s growth and health.

Neurosonographers

Neurosonographersfocus on the nervous system, including the brain. In neonatal care, neurosonographers study and diagnose neurological and nervous system disorders in premature infants. They also may scan blood vessels to check for abnormalities indicating a stroke in infants diagnosed with sickle-cell anemia. Like other sonographers, neurosonographers operate transducers to perform the sonogram, but use frequencies and beam shapes different from those used by obstetric and abdominal sonographers.

Mammography

Mammographers use sonography to study the disease in breasts. Sonography aids mammography in the detection of breast cancer. Breast sonography can also track tumors, blood supply conditions, and assist in the accurate biopsy of breast tissue. Breast sonographers use high-frequency transducers, made exclusively to study breast tissue.