What term refers to structures seen on ultrasound that do not correspond to actual tissue?

What term refers to structures seen on ultrasound that do not correspond to actual tissue?

• A. Anisotropy
• B. Edge Effect
• C. Artifacts
• D. Reverberation

Answer: (C)

Ultrasound artifacts are structures seen on an image that do not correspond to actual tissue. They arise from the physics of sound waves and how the machine processes echoes—things like multiple reflections, refraction, or energy from side lobes and interfaces being interpreted as real structures. Because artifacts can imitate anatomy or obscure it, the general term for these misleading image features is artifacts. Some specific phenomena, such as reverberation or edge effects, are particular types of artifacts, while anisotropy describes a change in echogenicity with the angle of insonation rather than a separate tissue structure. Recognizing artifacts helps you distinguish true anatomy from image clues that aren’t real, and adjustments to technique (angle, gain, frequency, harmonic imaging) can often reduce them.

Ultrasound artifacts are structures seen on an image that do not correspond to actual tissue. They arise from the physics of sound waves and how the machine processes echoes—things like multiple reflections, refraction, or energy from side lobes and interfaces being interpreted as real structures. Because artifacts can imitate anatomy or obscure it, the general term for these misleading image features is artifacts. Some specific phenomena, such as reverberation or edge effects, are particular types of artifacts, while anisotropy describes a change in echogenicity with the angle of insonation rather than a separate tissue structure. Recognizing artifacts helps you distinguish true anatomy from image clues that aren’t real, and adjustments to technique (angle, gain, frequency, harmonic imaging) can often reduce them.