ultrasound imaging

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a medical imaging modality that uses high-frequency sound waves (typically 2–18 megahertz) — beyond the range of human hearing, hence ultra-sound — to visualise internal body structures in real time without ionising radiation; ultrasound transducers both emit sound pulses and receive the echoes reflected by tissue boundaries; the time delay and amplitude of returning echoes are processed to construct images of tissues and organs; different tissues have different acoustic impedances, generating different echo patterns that allow radiologists and sonographers to distinguish solid organs, fluid collections, vascular structures, and pathological lesions; obstetric ultrasound to visualise and monitor the developing fetus during pregnancy is the most widely performed ultrasound examination worldwide; ultrasound is also essential in cardiac imaging (echocardiography), abdominal organ assessment, vascular Doppler studies, musculoskeletal imaging, and image-guided procedures such as biopsies and drainage of fluid collections

Examples

• Ultrasound imaging confirmed a gallstone of 1.5 cm diameter in the neck of the gallbladder.
• Doppler ultrasound imaging of the carotid arteries revealed a haemodynamically significant stenosis of 70% on the left.

ultrasound (same in both); sonography is more commonly used in clinical American English while ultrasonography appears in British technical usage

Synonyms: sonography, ultrasonography, US imaging