Artefacts and Measurements
Overview
This lecture examines common B‑mode artefacts, explaining why they occur and how to recognise them in practice. It also explores when artefacts may be useful or misleading, and introduces basic measurement techniques.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of these lectures, you should be able to:
- Explain the physical assumptions used in ultrasound image formation and how violations of these assumptions lead to imaging artefacts
- Describe the appearance, underlying causes, and clinical significance of common B-mode artefacts, including:
- Reverberation
- Comet tail
- Mirror image
- Ring down
- Refraction
- Edge shadowing
- Acoustic shadowing
- Acoustic enhancement
- Focal banding
- Speed propagation errors
- Range ambiguity
- Speckle
- Side and grating lobe artefacts
- Slice thickness artefacts
- Differentiate between artefacts that degrade image quality and those that may provide useful diagnostic information.
- Recognise artefacts on clinical ultrasound images and distinguish them from genuine anatomical or pathological findings.
- Select and apply appropriate scanning strategies and machine adjustments to minimise or optimise artefact appearance when clinically appropriate.
- Critically assess the influence of image quality, artefacts and operator technique on the reliability and reproducibility of ultrasound measurements.
Lecture Details
- Duration:
- Part A - Artefacts Part 1: 25 minutes
- Part B - Artefacts Part 2: 17 minutes
- Part C - B-Mode Measurements: 9 minutes
- Series: Ultrasound Physics and Equipment
- Provided by: Colin Deane, King’s College London