Glossary

Author: Glossary

  • Pelvic ultrasound

    Examination of the pelvis with an ultrasonic transducer placed inside the vagina. It is used in assessment of diseases or conditions affecting the cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, or ovaries.  

  • M-mode ultrasound

    Motion mode display: an ultrasonic display mode in which the motion of structures is seen on the vertical axis of the display, used, e.g., to show the movement of the heart’s valves and walls during diastole and systole.  

  • Intravascular ultrasound

    In ultrasonography, a technique for imaging intimal tissue proliferation and blood vessel blockages.  

  • Endobronchial ultrasound

    The use of ultrasonic transducers carried within a bronchoscope to evaluate tissues in or adjacent to the trachea and bronchi. EBUS can be used to identify solid masses to be biopsied. It helps distinguish solid masses, which may be malignant, from blood vessels such as the aorta or pulmonary arteries, which should not be penetrated…

  • Duplex doppler ultrasound

    Doppler ultrasonography that uses a transducer with two functions: pulsed- wave Doppler and B-mode imaging.  

  • Continuous wave doppler ultrasound

    Doppler ultrasonography that uses spectral Doppler in a constant series of echoes both originating and being received by the same transducer. It is used to study obstruction to blood flow through vessels.  

  • B-mode ultrasound

    Brightness mode display: in ultrasonography, the use of dots of differing intensities to represent echoes received from tissues that more strongly or weakly reflect sound waves.  

  • A-mode ultrasound

    A form of diagnostic ultrasonography in which imaging data are represented as echo amplitudes (on the y-axis) and time (on the x-axis), similar to the way electromagnetic waves are represented on an oscilloscope.  

  • Transvaginal ultrasonography

    Ultrasonographic visualization of the uterus, fallopian tubes, endometrium, and, in pregnant patients, the fetus. The test may be used to diagnose ectopic pregnancy, determine multiple pregnancies, identify ovarian cysts and pelvic cancers, and visualize tubo-ovarian abscesses. To obtain the needed images, the transducer (ultrasound probe) can be placed either on the abdominal wall or within…

  • Grayscale ultrasonography

    Use of a television scan technique to process the strength of ultrasound echoes with the strongest being registered as white and the weakest as different shades of gray.