Ultrasound

Please stay awake

Joe Wild
Overview
Basic principles
• High frequency sound waves
• Anything above the audible limit of human
hearing (approx. 20,000 Hz)
• Medical ultrasound in the region of Mhz
• Generated by applying an electric field to a
piezoelectric crystal in a transducer
• The crystal deforms and vibrates at a frequency
proportional to the current applied
• Electrical energy to kinetic/mechanical energy
Basic principles
Basic principles
• Tissues within the body differ in their ability to
transmit sound waves
• When a sound wave encounters a change in
tissue, part of the sound wave is transmitted and
part is reflected back to the transducer
• It is the reflected soundwaves that are converted
into an image.
• The time taken for the soundwaves to return
gives an indication of depth.
Basic principles
Acoustic Shadowing
Acoustic shadowing
Acoustic shadowing
Acoustic shadowing
• Signal void behind structures that strongly
absorb or reflect ultrasonic waves
• Happens most frequently with solid structures
eg bones and stones
• Sound conducts most rapidly in areas where
molecules are closely packed together
Acoustic enhancement
Acoustic enhancement
Acoustic enhancement
Acoustic enhancement
• Increased echogenicity deep to structures that
transmit sound exceptionally well
• Characteristic of fluid filled structures such as
cysts / the bladder / gallbladder
Reverberation
Reverberation
Reverberation
Reverberation
• Occurs when ultrasound beam encounters two
parallel reflectors
• Beam reflects back and forth between the
reflectors (“reverberates”)
• Transducer interprets the sound waves returning
as deeper structures since it took longer for the
wave to return
Refraction artefact
Refraction artefact
Refraction artefact
• Can occur when a transmitted ultrasound pulse
strikes n interface at a non-perpendicular angle
• If the refracted incident wave strikes a reflector
and causes an echo to return to the transducer,
this may be displayed at an incorrect location as
the transducer assumes all echoes have travelled
along a direct path