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VANCOUVER — With more than two months left before she was due to give birth, Kathy Stewardson wanted a sneak preview.
She had had a standard ultrasound much earlier in her pregnancy at a local hospital in Vancouver. It was difficult to make out the image on the screen, and hospital technicians didn't explain what parts of the baby they were examining. She took home a single blurry picture.
So Ms. Stewardson, 33, and her husband booked a session for a "fetal tour" at Vancouver's new Som Visao Urban Ultrasound Spa and Wellness Centre, where they spent a luxurious 30 minutes watching their baby through a three-dimensional ultrasound hooked up to a 42-inch plasma TV.
"It was a different atmosphere and not clinical at all," Ms. Stewardson said. "They were trying to show us as much as possible, trying to capture moments when she was yawning or [making] facial expressions."
Lori Steeves prepares to receive a 3D/4D ultrasound to give her and her husband a peek at their child by Sonographer Alison Si January 11, 2008 at Som Visao Urban Ultrasound, Spa and Wellness Centre in Vancouver. (RAFAL GERSZAK/FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL)
The couple took home a CD of images and short video clips. Staff also told them they were expecting a girl - something Ms. Stewardson's doctor had not disclosed.
With ultrasound technology now capable of producing lifelike 3-D and 4-D (moving 3-D) images, non-diagnostic prenatal imaging is taking off. Unlike health clinics and hospitals, businesses such as Som Visao are equipped with large-screen TVs, plush couches and soothing candles, allowing expectant mothers to kick back and enjoy the show inside their wombs. Many offer souvenir CDs or DVDs; some even offer live webcasts of the sessions so that family and friends can join in.
While these services, which cost about $100 to $200 a visit, have exploded in popularity, Health Canada and some health professionals disapprove of the non-medical use of ultrasound, citing safety-related or ethical reasons.
Those ethical concerns were highlighted last month, when Lakhvinder Kahlon of North Delta, B.C., was charged with killing his two-year-old daughter, having reportedly been depressed that he had no sons.
In the wake of the toddler's death, former B.C. premier and Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh condemned the practice of gender selection, saying local South Asians visit ultrasound clinics in Blaine, Wash., to determine the gender of a fetus early enough to permit an abortion.
Since it started in 2003, the Mississauga-based UC Baby fetal imaging franchise has expanded across the country, while 3D BabyVision Fetal Imaging, based in Oakville, Ont., now has five locations in Ontario and British Columbia.
Jeoffrey Daquinag, co-owner of UC Baby in Vancouver, said his centre sees an average of eight clients a day. He attributed the popularity to parents' desire to bond with their unborn babies.
Many hospitals still use older, 2-D ultrasound technology, said Tamara Knott, owner of 3D BabyVision in Vancouver. She added that hospital technicians don't usually have time to point out the baby's features to the expectant parents.
Business operators maintain that ultrasound technology is safe.
"There's no limit for this," Mr. Daquinag said, noting that a woman could visit an imaging centre every day if she wanted.
But Health Canada and the Canadian Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers disagree and recommend that parents not expose their unborn babies to fetal ultrasounds unnecessarily.
Even though there is no evidence that ultrasound poses health risks, there is also no proof that it is safe, they say.
Health Canada's guidelines state that ultrasound should not be used "to have a picture of the fetus, solely for non-medical reasons; to learn the sex of the fetus, solely for non-medical reasons; or for commercial purposes, such as trade shows or producing pictures or videos of the fetus."
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia also expressed concern about possible unethical use of ultrasound for gender determination.
The college's policy stipulates that gender should not be disclosed unless the fetus is more than 20 weeks gestation, when abortion can no longer be performed.
While the college has not received formal complaints involving ultrasound spas in the province, it says the lack of regulation opens up the potential for them to be misused for this purpose.
"Our position is not based on ultrasound as such, it's based on gender selection," said Morris VanAndel, registrar of the college.
Som Visao, 3D BabyVision and UC Baby said they accept clients after they have had their first routine diagnostic ultrasound at 18 to 20 weeks. Som Visao also requires that their clients be at least 24 weeks pregnant before they will perform an ultrasound.
However, there is little oversight of non-medical professionals who use ultrasound for non-medical purposes. The college regulates only its member physicians, while Health Canada regulates only diagnostic ultrasound devices - not their use.
The business of fetal imaging operates in a "grey area," admitted Kyle Reagan, vice-president of Som Visao.
Even though he and others interviewed said they employ only sonographers who are certified to practise, Mr. Reagan noted there is no law that says they can't hire those who are not.
But Mr. Reagan said 3-D ultrasound can reduce maternal anxiety.
In the event that a sonographer detected something wrong with the fetus, he or she would be able to alert the mother and her family physician.
"That being said, just to be on the safe side, we have a policy that we don't scan any woman more than twice during her pregnancy," Mr. Reagan said.
