Preliminary findings in mice suggest that fetal ultrasound might affect newborn brain development. In baby mice whose mothers were exposed to ultrasound for 30 minutes or longer during pregnancy, a small but significant number of nerve cells did not migrate to their proper locations in the brain, Yale University researchers reported in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ‘These results call for a further investigation in larger and slower-developing brains of non-human primates and comprehensive epidemiological studies in humans,’ the team wrote. But Dr. Pasko Rakic, chairman of the Yale department of neurobiology and leader of the study, was quick to offer parents reassurance about the safety of ultrasound — done for the proper reasons — in human pregnancies. ‘If I had a daughter and she was pregnant, I would recommend she had it for medical reasons,’ Rakic said. ‘I couldn’t agree with him more,’ said Dr. Joshua Copel, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Yale and spokesman for the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG). He was not involved in the study. Copel stressed that, to minimize any risk, ‘ultrasound should be performed for medical reasons, […]