3/7/2006 - Calif. Legislation Seeks to Bar Tom Cruise "Copy Cats" from Buying Ultrasound Machines
Carol M. Rumack, MD, chair of the ACR Ultrasound Commission, is quoted in a March 4 Torrance (CA) Daily Breeze article concerning legislation recently introduced into the California legislature which would bar private individuals from purchasing ultrasound machines.
Shortly after actor Tom Cruise's November 2005 announcement that he had purchased an ultrasound machine and planned to perform ultrasound exams on his fiancée, actress Katie Holmes, the ACR publicly expressed concern that Cruise might be placing his unborn child at risk and may have violated US Food and Drug Administration policy.
The Daily Breeze article quotes an ACR statement released shortly after Cruise's announcement in which Rumack states, "This is a patient safety issue…Untrained people, even if they have the financial means, should not buy, or be allowed to buy and operate, ultrasound machines. ... If there is no medical supervision for this process, I see no benefit to the patient, which, in this case, is Mr. Cruise's unborn child."
The ACR fully supports the views of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that fetal ultrasound be performed only for medical purposes, by certified technologists, with a prescription from an appropriately licensed provider.
Ultrasound imaging, also known as ultrasound scanning or sonography, is a method of obtaining images from inside the human body through the use of high frequency sound waves. The sound waves' echoes are recorded and displayed as a real-time, visual image. Ultrasound is generally considered safe when used by properly trained providers for medical purposes. Physicians routinely use ultrasound imaging to check the size, location, number, or age of fetuses in the womb; the presence of some types of birth defects; fetal movement; breathing; and heartbeat.
However, ultrasound should not be considered completely innocuous. Laboratory studies have shown that diagnostic levels of ultrasound can produce physical effects in tissue, such as mechanical vibrations and rise in temperature, particularly when used for a prolonged period of time.
Click here to read the Torrance (CA) Daily Breeze article. To read the ACR's statement on Cruise's purchase of the ultrasound equipment, click here. For the ACR's position statement on fetal keepsake ultrasound videos, please click here; the FDA's statement on fetal keepsake ultrasounds is here.