[Obstetrical ultrasonography]

As with all new diagnostic options in medicine, great hope was placed in the introduction of high-resolution prenatal sonography. Progress tends to induce higher expectations. Patients and doctors alike may initially overestimate the possibilities of medical advances.

The question at hand is whether we can validate a positive influence of prenatal ultrasound on the fetal and/or maternal pregnancy outcome, and how a sonographic routine screening should be structured.

This is an attempt to survey the heterogeneous pool of internationally published data with regard to these critical questions.

Different studies lead to a positive conclusion on the benefits of ultrasound monitoring in pregnant women. Ultrasound screening has a positive effect on medical as well as economic issues. Nevertheless litigation concerning prenatal diagnosis remains a growing problem.