Confirm that you’re pregnant.

Check to see if you’re pregnant with more than one fetus.

Estimate how long you’ve been pregnant and the gestational age of the fetus.

Check the fetal growth and position.

See the fetal movement and heart rate.

Check for congenital conditions (birth defects) in the fetal brain, spinal cord, heart or other parts of its body.

Check the amount of amniotic fluid.

Abdominal ultrasound: An ultrasound probe moves across the skin of your midsection (belly) area. Abdominal ultrasound can diagnose many causes of abdominal pain.

Kidney (renal) ultrasound: Providers use kidney ultrasound to assess the size, location and shape of your kidneys and related structures, such as your ureters and bladder. Ultrasound can detect cysts, tumors, obstructions or infections within or around your kidneys.

Breast ultrasound: A breast ultrasound is a noninvasive test to identify breast lumps and cysts. Your provider may recommend an ultrasound after an abnormal mammogram.

Doppler ultrasound: This is a special ultrasound technique that assesses the movement of materials, like blood, in your body. It allows your provider to see and evaluate blood flow through arteries and veins in your body..

Pelvic ultrasound: A pelvic ultrasound looks at the organs in your pelvic area between your lower abdomen (belly) and legs. Some of the pelvic organs include your bladder, prostate, rectum, ovaries, uterus and vagina.

Transvaginal ultrasound: Your provider inserts a probe into your vaginal canal. It shows reproductive tissues such as your uterus or ovaries. A transvaginal ultrasound is sometimes called a pelvic ultrasound because it evaluates structures inside your pelvis (hip bones).

Thyroid ultrasound: Providers use ultrasound to assess your thyroid, a butterfly-shaped endocrine gland in your neck. Providers can measure the size of your thyroid and see if there are nodules or lesions within the gland.

Transrectal ultrasound: Your provider inserts an ultrasound probe transducer into your rectum. It evaluates your rectum or other nearby tissues, such as the prostate in people assigned male at birth.

Use ultrasound to perform certain procedures precisely. A common use of ultrasound is to guide needle placement to sample fluid or tissue from Tendons, Joints , Muscles, Cysts or fluid collections, Soft-tissue masses, Organs (liver, kidney or prostate).