What is a head-to-toe vascular ultrasound?
An ultrasound is an imaging technique that uses sound waves to create images of your internal organs and tissues, including your blood vessels.
Advanced Doppler ultrasounds show the movement of your blood through your veins and arteries. ECCA offers head-to-toe vascular ultrasounds to study every inch of your network of veins and arteries.
Vascular ultrasounds are safe, noninvasive, and painless. They’re valuable diagnostic tools that provide your physician with critical information about your cardiovascular health.
Why would I need a head-to-toe vascular ultrasound?
ECCA uses head-to-toe vascular ultrasounds for several purposes, including:
- Monitoring blood flow
- Locating vascular narrowing and blockages
- Identifying vascular malformations
- Detecting blood clots
- Evaluating varicose veins
- Identifying enlarged arteries
ECCA also uses vascular ultrasound to guide needle and catheter placement for procedures like angioplasty and stent placement. They also use ultrasounds to evaluate the success of cardiovascular health treatments.
What happens during a head-to-toe vascular ultrasound?
During your head-to-toe vascular ultrasound, you remove all jewelry and wear a hospital gown so your provider can easily move the ultrasound transducer over your body. They usually apply a gel that helps the transducer slide over your skin without friction.
While you lie on a treatment table, the technician glides the transducer over your body. The transducer sends the sound waves into your body and collects their echos as the waves bounce back off of your organs.
The transducer sends this information to a computer that converts the data into images using sonar technology. Ultrasounds provide real-time images and videos of your blood vessels and organs.
A head-to-toe vascular ultrasound visualizes your entire vascular system. Depending on your needs, your provider may focus on specific parts of your body, like your ankles or neck. You may hear a pulse-like sound that varies in pitch during the head-to-toe ultrasound.
Expect to spend a couple of hours at ECCA for your procedure. Your head-to-toe ultrasound may take over an hour, and your physician may want to talk to you about your results.
When your appointment is over, you can return to your regular activities immediately — there’s no need to take time to recover.
Call ECCA today or make an appointment online if you’re looking for expert cardiovascular health care and a head-to-toe vascular ultrasound.