KIDNEY AND BLADDER ULTRASOUND SCANS APPLICATION

WHAT IS A BLADDER?:

It is a muscular sac/organ that stores urine made in the kidneys until it is ready for release.  It is located in the pelvis area and behind the pubic bone.

WHAT IS A BLADDER ULTRASOUND?:

It is a scan to assess the bladder and the emptying of it.  It assesses problems encountered if the bladder isn’t functioning optimally like enlarged prostate and other bladder dysfunctions.  It will help provide information on the muscle, the diverticula of the bladder, size and shape of prostate, any stones or tumors which may be present.

A bladder ultrasound uses a convex probe and an ultrasound machine (color doppler or black and white).  You don’t need a high-end or necessarily expensive ultrasound system to scan a bladder.

Depending on the clinic or doctor, or the other applications they scan at their practice, it can be anything from an Edan portable ultrasound which is under $5,000 and black and white, a Chison Ebit (under $15,000) or SonoBook 9 (just over $25,000 but adds a tremendous amount of features and image enhancements) to a Logiq e portable, most any GE ultrasound or Siemens are also good at bladder scans.  If you are just measuring the bladder and urine after a surgery, a simple bladder scanner ranges from $5,000-$15,000 and is automatic on evaluating residual levels.

WHAT IS A KIDNEY?:

Make a fist and that is about the size of your kidney and is located just below the rib cage on each side.  It’s an organ that cleans the blood of waste products to produce urine.  It filters the waste from the good minerals and sends the good minerals back to the bloodstream while the waste passes through as urine.

A kidney regulates blood pressure and keeps electrolytes stable in the body like potassium or sodium.

WHAT IS A KIDNEY ULTRASOUND?:

Similar to the Bladder ultrasound, the Kidney ultrasound uses a convex transducer that is placed over the abdomen to indicate the size and position of the kidneys while identifying any obstruction like a kidney stone or mass.  It is a pretty simple ultrasound scan that many are most comfortable having done to find the root cause of any problematic areas.

Again, depending on your budget, many low end to high end ultrasound machines designed for abdomen, , kidney, bladder will be able to accommodate your needs.  Look here for a larger review of ultrasound machines.

Want to learn more?

Check out our Facebook Page or our Ultrasound Blog.  More portable ultrasound information is on the Blog too.