Every once in a while, we get a question as to whether 3D ultrasounds are safe. As a board-certified pediatrician, I have a bias towards making sure things are safe for the baby, and I researched the safety of 3D ultrasounds extensively before deciding to see my own baby in 3D when my wife was pregnant. As a father, being able to see my baby through this window moved me so much, that I felt like I had to bring this experience to others.

Just to set the record straight, 3D ultrasound uses the same ultrasound waves used in your doctor’s office, with the same intensity, and for the same length of time. In 35 years of widespread almost universal use of ultrasounds, there has not been a single known case of a miscarriage or abnormality attributed to the use of ultrasounds. Its safety profile has been proven over the decades.

This being said, I do want to deal with a few arguments here. Also, I am so sure about the safety of what we do that I will open it up for discussion here on this blog. If you have any research or factual evidence on 3D ultrasounds being unsafe, then please bring it here. If you prove to me that 3D ultrasounds are unsafe for either the mother or the child, I will be the first to close down this studio and be on the forefront of shutting down all the others as well.

The arguments that are not valid are as follows:
“We just don’t know about the safety, and it is not necessary, so we should avoid it.”
That argument can be used for cell phones, microwaves, and a thousand other things and dismisses the very real benefits that pregnant women get when viewing their baby while pregnant. Also, it is impossible to prove something is 100% without any harm. We can only prove if there is a harm. The best we can hope for is a long track record of use without any known harms, which already exists for ultrasounds.

“It is not medically indicated.”
Who said this is a medical procedure? Seeing your baby for the first time while you are pregnant is an emotional, social, and cultural phenomenon that is spreading and soon taking over. Baby showers and bar mitzvahs are also not “medically indicated.” Also, just to point out the hypocrisy of those bringing forth these arguments, there are ob/gyn physicians who strongly advise against 3D ultrasounds because they are not medically indicated and yet perform elective circumcisions on a routine basis (also not medically indicated), perform elective C-sections for social reasons or to fit their own schedules (also not medically indicated), and even will allow their own patients to come back for an extra 2D ultrasound, off the books, to see if it’s a boy or a girl. It makes me wonder if the real issue they have with 3D ultrasounds is that they are not making any money off of it themselves and begrudge those who do. Meanwhile, there are plenty of ob/gyn physicians who have set up their own 3D ultrasound clinics across the U.S. after they have retired from their regular role as a physician.

“This is not what this medical device was intended for.”
It is a curious state of affairs when GE’s official policy is that the 3D ultrasound machine is not intended for non-medical or entertainment purposes and yet on their website and on all of their brochures, a picture of a pregnant woman seeing her baby in 3D is prominently displayed (and she is not wearing a medical gown). What irks me more is that major advances in 3D ultrasound technology and 3D ultrasound techniques have grown out of the increased use of this machine by ob/gyn’s and ultrasound technicians, spurred by the demand of these elective ultrasounds. You can’t have it both ways, GE. You can’t have your biggest clientele be 3D ultrasound studios and yet declare publicly that you have no idea that these machines are being used in this way.

But assuming that the above statement is true, that 3D ultrasound machines are not being used “as intended,” this still is not a valid argument, as most medical instruments have been used in more ways than as intended. For example, the stethoscope is intended to be used by a physician or nurse to hear heart sounds. However, as a pediatrician, I have used my trusted stethoscope to hear arterial blood flow in a baby’s head to diagnose an AV fistula. No one chided me for using the stethoscope as something other than what was intended. I have knocked it against a child’s knees to test for reflexes; I have used it as a toy pendulum to distract an infant as I examined his ears; I have held it outside my car window, using it as a signal, as I rested on my horn, and sped through red lights reaching the hospital just in time to resusscitate a blue baby just born who wasn’t breathing. I have worn my stethoscope around my neck as part of my uniform and clothing so as to indicate to others who was running the code. I have used that same stethoscope to hold my seat at the hospital cafeteria. I have used it as collateral when I needed money to eat and my paycheck wasn’t going to arrive until the next week. I have tried to use it to hypnotize someone, swaying it back and forth in front of my 2-year-old son, trying desperately to get him to sleep, but it didn’t work. I have even once used my stethoscope as a short-range weapon when stationed in Iraq (don’t even ask me about that one!), and I now have it hanging in my closet as I currently use it as a reminder of my crazy past. Ultrasounds were never meant for medical use to begin with–they were initially used to find cracks in dams. It was a doctor who decided to use it to detect abscesses and other things within the body which led to how it is used today. At that time, you could have told the doctor that it is not being used as intended, but I am glad no one did.

The FDA advises against it.
The FDA knows that there is no evidence linking any harm to the use of 3D ultrasound, as stated on their website, and so they are not legally allowed to ban 3D ultrasounds. They can say that this is a medical device used for non-medical purposes. But I can also easily say that this is a non-medical device sometimes used for medical purposes.

It’s not natural.
Yes, using a 3D ultrasound machine to see your baby has not been done in the more natural state of things during the caveman days. However, it is very natural for a woman to want to see her baby, bond with her baby, and these feelings begin while you are still pregnant. It is also very natural for a father to want to experience this joy as well. From the beginning of time, cavemen dads have been putting their ears up against the cavemen mom’s belly, using regular sound, not ultrasound, to hear their baby’s heart beating. The 3D ultrasound is just a natural extension of these deep desires.

Also, just as it is not natural to drive or fly by airplane, we do many things that are in retrospect very natural when you consider the other animals that can run as fast as a car or fly as high as an airplane. Likewise, there are many animals that employ ultrasounds to communicate and navigate through their world, including elephants, dolphins, and bats. When the tsunami hit Indonesia, it was natural ultrasound signals created by the tsunami that warned the elephants to flee from the shoreline moments before the tsunami struck. It was the humans who followed the elephants that benefited from these natural ultrasounds.

Do you have an argument against 3D ultrasounds? Do you have research or evidence showing that it is unsafe? Please write it here in the comments.

Tags: 3D ultrasound, 3D ultrasound Chicago, 3d ultrasound controversy, 3d ultrasound safety, 4d ultrasound, 4D ultrasound Chicago, bats, cavemen, Chicago 3D ultrasound, Chicago 4D ultrasound, circumcision, dolphins, elective procedure, elephants, FDA, GE, ob/gyn, stethoscope, tsunami, ultrasound in nature, uses of stethoscope