From diagnosing unexplained pain to monitoring pregnancy, a pelvic scan is a powerful tool. It is used to visualise the organs in your lower abdomen, including the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and bladder. This imaging technique provides crucial answers about the lower abdomen, especially in women. It evaluates causes for pelvic pain, abnormal bleeding, and infertility. It also confirms pregnancies, checks for cysts or tumours, and monitors IUD positioning. For people thinking of or looking for a pelvic scan in Siliguri, there are many good doctors and healthcare centres available.
This blog offers an overview of a complete guide to pelvic scans in Siliguri, including their purpose, procedures, and benefits.
Before any further discussion, let’s first start with learning.
What is a pelvic scan?
Using high-frequency sound waves to view the organs and structures inside your lower abdomen or pelvis, a pelvic scan is a non-invasive and safe diagnostic imaging test. This test uses sound waves to create an image of the organs between the belly and legs.
It contains no radiation and creates real-time pictures of your internal anatomy. It evaluates the reproductive system, like the uterus, ovaries, bladder, and surrounding structures, to diagnose causes of pain or abnormal bleeding or to monitor pregnancy.
What It Examines:
Females: In women, it evaluates the uterus, cervix, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and bladder. The procedure is mostly done in women for monitoring pregnancy, abnormal bleeding, and the causes of pain.
Males: It evaluates the bladder, prostate gland, and seminal vesicles in males.
Types of Pelvic Scans
Categorised by where the ultrasound probe is positioned to capture the images, there are three main anatomical types of pelvic scans. These are discussed below.
1. Transabdominal Ultrasound
How it works: The healthcare provider applies a water-based gel to your lower abdomen and moves a handheld transducer over your skin. And this is how a transabdominal ultrasound works.
Preparation: The transabdominal ultrasound requires a full bladder. The fluid lifts the bowel out of the way to create a clear acoustic window for the sound waves.
Best used for: This is best used for providing a broad overview of the entire larger masses, pelvic region, and monitoring advanced pregnancies.
2. Transvaginal Ultrasound: Females-Only Scan
How it works: This is a thin, specialised probe covered with a protective sheath and lubricating gel that is gently inserted into the vagina.
Preparation: The transvaginal ultrasound requires an empty bladder. You will be asked to urinate right before the test.
Best used for: It is best used for capturing highly detailed, close-up images of the uterus, endometrium, and ovaries to detect early pregnancy, ovarian cysts, or fibroids.
3. Transrectal Ultrasound: Primarily for Males
How it works: This consists of a small, lubricated probe that is carefully inserted into the rectum.
Preparation: This may require a bowel preparation or an enema beforehand to clear the rectum.
Best used for: The transrectal ultrasound, which evaluates the size and health of the prostate gland and seminal vesicles.
Explaining further, let’s talk about
Complete Guide to Pelvic Scan in Siliguri: Purpose, Procedure, and Benefits
Utilising high-frequency sound waves rather than harmful radiation to create real-time internal images on a monitor is how a pelvic scan or ultrasound is performed. Used to examine the organs, tissues, and blood vessels inside your lower abdomen, this is a non-invasive medical imaging test. Let's see the organs examined during these scans or ultrasounds.
Organs Examined During Pelvic Scans
In both sexes: In both sexes, these scans check the urinary bladder and surrounding soft tissues.
In females, this is done to look at the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, cervix, and vagina.
In males, this is used to evaluate the prostate gland and seminal vesicles.
Coming to the next point, which is
What is the purpose of a pelvic scan?
Primarily, to investigate unexplained symptoms, monitor structural health, or track reproductive changes are the primary purposes of a pelvic scan. These scans might be performed for several critical medical situations. These depend on the type and need of the diagnosis of the respective patient.
Investigation of Unexplained Symptoms or Pain
For pelvic pain:
For pelvic area issues, these scans help in locating the exact source of sharp, dull, or chronic pain in the lower abdomen.
For abnormal bleeding:
These scans can also be used to find out why a person has unusually heavy periods, bleeding between periods, or postmenopausal bleeding. This is how pelvic scans are used in cases of abnormal bleeding as well.
For menstrual irregularities:
Investigating missed periods, extremely painful cycles, or highly unpredictable menstruation schedules is also a purpose of a pelvic scan.
Helps in Detecting Structural Abnormalities and Diseases
Locating noncancerous growths:
Pelvic scans help in detecting structural abnormalities and diseases by identifying and measuring benign masses like ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, and endometrial polyps.
Scanning for Pelvic Inflammatory Disease or PID:
Pelvic scans help in checking for signs of pelvic infections, inflammation, or fluid buildup in the fallopian tubes. This helps in the early detection of any pelvic inflammatory disease, or PID, for better treatment.
For screening cancer:
Pelvic scans or ultrasounds help in detecting any early signs of cancer, mainly in the abdominal area of a female or a male. They do so by evaluating suspicious pelvic masses, enlarged organs, or abnormal tissue thickening for further oncology testing.
Finding Urinary Issues:
They help in finding the root cause of frequent urination, difficulty emptying the bladder, or blood in the urine.
Navigating Pregnancy and Reproductive Care
For Pregnancy Confirmation:
It helps in verifying an early pregnancy, checking the foetal heartbeat, and estimating the exact gestational age.
Helps in Foetal Development:
In terms of foetal development, it monitors the growth, anatomy, and fluid levels surrounding a baby during routine prenatal checkups.
Helps in Fertility Assessments:
In terms of fertility assessment, pelvic scans help in evaluating the shape of the uterus and tracking ovarian follicles during specialised fertility treatments.
Excluding Ectopic Pregnancy:
It ensures the fertilised egg has implanted safely inside the uterus rather than inside a fallopian tube.
Helps in Monitoring Devices and Male Health
IUD Placement Checks:
Pelvic scans also help in monitoring devices and male health by verifying that an intrauterine device (IUD) is properly positioned and has not moved out of place.
Prostate Examination:
In males, it helps in prostate examination by assessing the size and condition of the prostate gland in men to check for enlargement or inflammation.
Next comes
What is the Procedure of a Pelvic Scan?
To ensure clear internal imaging, the procedure of a pelvic scan involves specific preparation steps and setup actions. The whole process of a pelvic scan is non-invasive and entirely painless, and typically takes 15 to 30 minutes to complete
The procedure of a pelvic scan is as follows:
Step 1: Pre-Scan Preparation
Your preparation depends entirely on the specific method your doctor prescribes to view your pelvic organs:
For a Transabdominal Scan:
For conducting a transabdominal scan, you must drink 4 to 5 glasses of water one hour before the appointment and avoid urinating. This scan requires a full bladder, which acts as a clear window, pushing your intestines aside to reveal the uterus, ovaries, or prostate.
For a Transvaginal Scan:
The transvaginal scan requires an empty bladder. So you must empty your bladder right before the test begins to avoid blocking the high-resolution views of the reproductive organs.
Step 2: Positioning and Setup
Positioning:
Generally, the positioning of these scans requires you to lie flat on your back on an examination table. But for a transvaginal scan, you will lie down with your knees bent and feet placed in stirrups, similar to a routine gynaecological exam.
Attire Worn:
Because these scans are done on a specific part of a human being, dressing freely is essential. So you may be asked to change into a hospital gown or simply undo your clothing from the waist down.
Step 3: Conducting the Scan
To capture real-time data, the medical professional will use one of the primary imaging techniques.
Transabdominal Method:
This scan or test begins with the technician applying a clear, water-based gel on your lower belly to eliminate air pockets. They then firmly press a handheld device called a transducer against your skin, moving it back and forth to capture images. This helps in capturing or detecting any kind of issues that you may have.
Transvaginal Method:
The transvaginal test or scan begins by covering a slim, wand-like transducer with a protective latex or plastic sheath, then applying a lubricating gel and gently inserting it into the vagina.
4. Step 4: Recovery and Post-Scan
Immediate Cleanup:
After the scan is complete, the technician wipes away any excess gel from your skin or provides tissues for you to clean yourself.
Requires Zero Recovery Time:
Because the procedure does not use anaesthesia, sedation, or radiation, you can empty your bladder immediately and resume your normal daily activities right away.
The last question will be
What are the benefits of a pelvic scan?
Making it one of the most widely used diagnostic tools in modern healthcare, a pelvic scan offers several crucial medical advantages.
1. A Safe Test
- No Radiation:
These scans involve zero radiation. It relies entirely on high-frequency sound waves, meaning it carries none of the cancer risks associated with X-rays or CT scans.
- It’s Completely Safe in Pregnancy:
Because it is non-ionizing, it can be used repeatedly to monitor a developing fetus without causing harm. Ultrasounds, in general,l help a lot in pregnancy to monitor the growth of the baby.
- Non-Invasive Test:
These scans mostly require no needles, incisions, injections, or sedation, eliminating surgical recovery times. And so is a type of non-invasive test.
2. Providing Accuracy and Performance
Provides Real-Time Imaging:
These scans allow doctors to instantly see moving structures, such as blood flow through pelvic vessels or a foetal heartbeat.
Provides Highly Detailed Internal Views:
The transvaginal method places the probe directly next to the organs, providing exceptional clarity for early disease detection. This helps in detecting diseases, which further helps in early diagnosis and early treatment.
Helps in Versatile Diagnostics:
They help effectively differentiate between solid tumours, fluid-filled cysts, and inflammatory conditions in a single session.
3. It’s a Speedy and Convenient Test.
Fast Procedure Time:
These tests are fast, passing one, with the entire examination usually completed in just 15 to 30 minutes.
It’s Immediate Recovery:
Patients can immediately drive, return to work, and resume normal eating habits right after the appointment.
Conclusion
A pelvic scan is a powerful tool used for diagnosing unexplained pain and monitoring pregnancy. It is used to visualise the organs in your lower abdomen, including the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and bladder. This imaging technique provides crucial answers about the lower abdomen, especially in women. It evaluates causes for pelvic pain, abnormal bleeding, and infertility. It also confirms pregnancies, checks for cysts or tumours, and monitors IUD positioning.
For people looking for pelvic scans in Siliguri, this city has some of the best doctors and centres in town.
One such doctor is Dr Sweta Bothra. She is a foetal medicine specialist and radiologist with advanced training in prenatal diagnosis and pregnancy imaging. She also holds an MBBS in radiodiagnosis and a fellowship in foetal medicine. She brings experience from leading institutions, including Tata Memorial Hospital, SION Hospital, and Neotia Multispeciality Hospital.
