Medical imaging is predominantly a visual field. In this context, prenatal ultrasound images assume intense social, ethical, and psychological significance by virtue of the subject they represent: the fetus. This feature, along with the sophistication introduced by three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound imaging that allows improved visualization of the fetus, has contributed to the common impression that prenatal ultrasound scans are like photographs of the fetus. In this article we discuss the consistency of such a comparison. First, we investigate the epistemic role of both analogic and digital photographic images as visual information-providing representations holding a high degree of objectivity. Second, we examine the structure and process of production of ultrasound scans and argue that a comparison between two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound and photography is justified. This is in contrast to 3D ultrasound images that, due to the intensive mathematical processing involved in their production, present some structural issues that obfuscate their ontological and epistemic status.

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关于产前超声的认识状态：超声是否扫描照相图片？

医学成像主要是视野。在这种情况下，产前超声图像凭借它们所代表的主题：胎儿而具有强烈的社会，伦理和心理意义。此功能，再加上三维（3D）超声成像引入的先进技术，可以改善胎儿的可视化效果，给人的印象是产前超声扫描就像胎儿的照片一样。在本文中，我们讨论了这种比较的一致性。首先，我们调查类比和数字摄影图像作为具有高度客观性的视觉信息提供表示的认知作用。第二，我们检查了超声扫描的结构和产生过程，并认为将二维（2D）超声与摄影进行比较是合理的。这与3D超声图像形成鲜明对比，由于3D超声图像产生过程中涉及大量的数学处理，因此呈现出一些结构性问题，使它们的本体论和认识论状态难以理解。