New ultrasound options make for a detailed experience
Few medical procedures can be classified as fun. A mom’s first glimpse of her unborn baby during an ultrasound exam is usually one of the exceptions.
In Spokane, the ultrasound experience is getting even more exciting thanks to a growing number of places that offer 3-D and 4-D images. The pictures and videos produced by these machines give parents portraits of their babies’ faces months before they’re able to kiss those chubby cheeks. The images are so clear you can see a fetus sucking its thumb and sticking out its tongue to taste the amniotic fluid.
Evergreen Ultrasound, a business that opened at 3026 S. Grand Blvd. three weeks ago, provides families a “spa-like atmosphere” where, for a price, they can watch their baby in action, said co-owner Clint Stevens.
“We roll out the red carpet for them,” he said.
The product menu on the Spokane company’s Web site looks a flier from a J.C. Penney photo studio. For $275, you get a 25-minute viewing session, a video of it set to music, 30 color and black-and-white printouts, a CD of all the images and five “baby-to-be” announcements.
Less expensive packages are also available.
Stevens, a professional sonographer with 14 years of experience, wanted to be the first in Spokane offering elective ultrasounds. Similar services are available in Seattle and other large cities, but Stevens said his company is unique in that it offers limited diagnostic services in addition to entertainment. Evergreen also communicates with clients’ doctors or midwives to ensure the women aren’t coming to Evergreen in lieu of regular diagnostic work.
When Stevens shows expectant parents what their babies are doing inside the womb, he’s reminded of the struggle he and his wife had soothing their 5-year-old son when he was first born. They followed the conventional advice of swaddling the baby tightly with his arms at his sides, but it only upset their son more.
One day, the boy’s arm popped out of the blankets and he began sucking his two middle fingers, which calmed him immediately. Had the Stevenses seen their son doing this in the womb using a 4-D ultrasound, they might have been able to soothe him sooner, Clint Stevens said.
“If you can see those habits inside, what an advantage for parents,” he said.
Yet Dr. Don Cubberley, the lead ultrasound radiologist at Inland Imaging, warned that using ultrasound technology for entertainment purposes isn’t appropriate.
He said he didn’t know anything about Evergreen Ultrasound, but when ultrasounds are performed by unqualified people, defects are often either overlooked or perfectly healthy babies are diagnosed with conditions they don’t have.
They “may end up looking at a foot, and because of its position against the uterine wall, it looks like clubfoot” when it’s not, Cubberley said.
Inland Imaging began using 3-D technology three years ago and 4-D in 2004, he said. The ultrasounds are especially helpful in identifying facial anomalies such as cleft lip, and heart defects, he said.
“We do it because we think it has the potential to evaluate those things,” Cubberley said. “We also try to make the examination enjoyable and interesting for the patient. (But) We don’t do it just at their request.”
After using a conventional 2-D machine in his office for 18 years, Dr. William Stovall, an obstetrician with Valley Obstetrics & Gynecology PS, sprang for a $150,000 3-D/4-D machine earlier this year.
The technology allows doctors to perform an ultrasound, send the patient away, and still have an image that can be viewed “in any plane you want,” he said.
When cleft lip is detected, for example, “You can actually see it, take a picture of it, take that to the plastic surgeon, and you can tell them what’s involved in fixing it,” Stovall said in an interview in June.
Besides the medical advantages, 3-D and 4-D ultrasounds make appointments fun, he said.
Stevens agreed.
“This is a great time for people,” Stevens said. “It’s time for somebody to step up and start making it fun for them.”
Cystic fibrosis testing for newborns
Beginning in June, all newborns in Washington will be tested for cystic fibrosis.
The state Board of Health voted Wednesday to require the test. Blood already drawn from babies for other required screenings will be used.
Cystic fibrosis is an often-fatal disease that causes glands to produce thickened mucus in the pancreas, the air passages of the lungs and in other organs.
The disease interferes with the child’s ability to grow. When diagnosed early, babies can be given supplemental vitamins and nutrients to combat that effect.
Families can refuse the test on religious grounds.
Commission seeking applicants
The Washington state Department of Health is seeking a few good physicians, physician assistants and lay people.
The department is accepting applications for six seats on the Medical Quality Assurance Commission. The commission sets licensing requirements for doctors and physician assistants, reviews consumer complaints and handles disciplinary hearings, among other duties.
The group meets for two days, eight times a year. Members are paid $250 and are reimbursed for travel expenses.
For information or an application, visit www.governor.wa.gov or call (360) 236-4788.
The deadline is Jan. 15.