ERU - 15

Question 1

What are the characteristics of a simple cyst?

Answer 1

STAR: smooth borders, through transmission, anechoic, round

Question 2

For transabdominal imaging of the female pelvis, the bladder should be (full/empty)?

Answer 2

Full. To better visualize the uterus and adnexa

Question 3

Increased frequency leads to ___ penetration and ___ resolution.

Answer 3

decreased / improved

Question 4

What is reverberation artifact?

Answer 4

False echoes caused by a large acoustic interface. Ex: echogenic region in the anterior aspect of the urinary bladder could cause this

Question 5

Mirror image artifact

Answer 5

A copy of the anatomy deeper than correct location produced by a strong specular reflector.
Ex: endovaginal exam produced a duplicate uterus

Question 6

Shadowing artifact

Answer 6

Attenuation of the sound beam caused by dense structure (bone)
Ex: shadow deep to a pelvic bone or tooth in a cystic teratoma

Question 7

Ring-down artifact

Answer 7

A solid streak or a chain of parallel bands radiating away from a structure.
Ex: Gas or air within the endometrium (seen with endometritis)

Question 8

Dirty shadowing

Answer 8

Caused by air or bowel gas, possibly gas within an abscess

Question 9

Posterior enhancement / through transmission

Answer 9

Produced when a sound bean is barely attenuated through a fluid.
Ex: posterior to the urinary bladder or a simple ovarian cyst.

Question 10

2D artifact: Cause and solution

Absent doppler signal

Answer 10

Cause: low gain, high frequency, high wall finter, high velocity scale
Solution: Decreased PRF, increase spectral gain, decrease wall filter, open the sample gate

Question 11

2D artifact: Explanation and solution

Aliasing

Answer 11

Occurs when the doppler sampling rate (PRF) is not high enough to to accurately display the Doppler frequency shift,
Increase PRF, adjust baseline, lower frequency, increase the angle of insonation

Question 12

2D artifact: Explanation and solution

Doppler noise

Answer 12

Caused by inappropriately high Doppler settings.

Reduce color gain setting

Question 13

2D artifact: Explanation and solution

Flow directional abnormalities

Answer 13

Caused by the sound beam striking a vessel at a 90 degree angle, producing an area void of color.
Change the angle of insonation

Question 14

2D artifact: Explanation and solution

Twinkle artifact

Answer 14

Occurs behind strong, granular, and irregular surfaces like crystals, calculi, or calcifications.
Can be useful to identify kidney stones