Ensuring the safe use of ultrasound in pregnancy scanning

We have worked closely with the British Medical Ultrasound Society to formulate clear safety guidelines for the use of ultrasound in pregnancy scanning. With this information at their fingertips, practitioners performing routine pregnancy screening at 18–20 weeks can now make better judgments when using ultrasound and ensure patients remain safe.

These guidelines have since been adopted by the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme and have gone on to influence about two million ultrasound scans across the UK, performed on 700,000 pregnant women each year.

By ensuring safe screening during pregnancy, this project has, in turn, directly benefited quality of life in the UK.