Ultrasound Glossary

A continuous streak of echoes trailing behind a gas bubble or crystalline structure, caused by resonating fluid layers.

A group of four muscles and tendons stabilizing the shoulder joint — the supraspinatus is the most commonly torn and evaluated on ultrasound.

A rotator cuff tear is a rip in one or more shoulder tendons, diagnosed by ultrasound as a defect in the tendon’s normal echogenic structure.

Registered Vascular Technologist — an ARDMS credential for sonographers specializing in vascular studies.

An imaginary line that divides the body from front to back, creating left and right halves. A sagittal scan shows a side view of the body.

Salpingitis is inflammation of a fallopian tube, often seen on ultrasound as a fluid-filled, dilated tubular structure in the pelvis.

The adjustable gate in pulsed wave Doppler that defines the location and size of the region from which velocity information is sampled.

The seminal vesicles are paired glands behind the bladder that produce fluid for semen, visible on transrectal or transabdominal ultrasound.

A dark area deep to a strongly reflective or absorptive structure such as a stone or gas pocket.

Two opposite posterior acoustic artifacts used to characterize lesions: shadowing behind solid or calcified structures, enhancement behind fluid.

A quantitative elastography technique that measures tissue stiffness in kilopascals by tracking the speed of shear waves generated by acoustic radiation force.

A benign fluid-filled structure with characteristic ultrasound features: anechoic, thin walls, posterior acoustic enhancement.

A tissue-containing lesion on ultrasound that does not meet the criteria for a simple cyst, requiring further characterization.

Another term for elastography — ultrasound-based mapping of tissue stiffness using compression or shear wave techniques.

A healthcare professional trained to perform diagnostic ultrasound examinations.

Sonography is the use of high-frequency sound waves to create real-time images of the body’s internal structures for diagnostic purposes.

The foundational knowledge domain covering ultrasound physics, image formation, Doppler principles, artifacts, bioeffects, and quality assurance — tested on the ARDMS SPI exam.

An imaging technique that averages frames acquired from multiple beam angles to reduce speckle and improve tissue definition.

Speckle is the grainy texture seen on ultrasound images, caused by interference patterns of scattered sound waves within tissue.

Spectral Doppler is an ultrasound display that shows blood flow velocity over time as a waveform, used to analyze vascular and cardiac hemodynamics.

The graphical display of Doppler-detected blood flow velocities over time, showing systolic peaks, diastolic flow, and flow character.

A spermatocele is a benign, fluid-filled cyst near the top of the testicle, commonly found as an incidental finding on scrotal ultrasound.

The Sonography Principles and Instrumentation exam — a required ARDMS prerequisite covering ultrasound physics and instrumentation.

The spleen is an immune and blood-filtering organ in the left upper abdomen, routinely evaluated by ultrasound for size, texture, and focal lesions.

The splenic artery is the tortuous vessel that carries blood from the celiac trunk to the spleen, visible on abdominal ultrasound.

The splenic vein carries blood from the spleen to the portal vein, evaluated by ultrasound for thrombosis and dilation.

Enlargement of the spleen beyond its normal size, measured on ultrasound by craniocaudal length.

Stenosis is the abnormal narrowing of a body passage, frequently evaluated in blood vessels and heart valves by Doppler ultrasound.

The subclavian artery is a major vessel supplying the arm and parts of the brain, assessed by Doppler ultrasound for stenosis and steal syndrome.

The subclavian vein is a major vein beneath the collarbone, evaluated by ultrasound for thrombosis and used as a landmark for central venous access.

An ultrasound imaging plane obtained by placing the transducer below the ribcage, used in echocardiography and FAST exams.

A subdural hematoma is a collection of blood between the brain and its outer covering, sometimes detectable by transcranial ultrasound in infants.

The superior mesenteric artery is a major abdominal vessel supplying most of the small intestine and part of the colon, evaluated by Doppler ultrasound.

The superior mesenteric vein drains blood from the small intestine and colon, joining the splenic vein to form the portal vein.

The superior vena cava is the large vein returning blood from the upper body to the heart, partially visible on echocardiography.

Synovial fluid is the lubricating liquid within joints, visible on ultrasound when increased due to inflammation or injury (joint effusion).

Tachycardia is an abnormally fast heart rate, which can be identified and evaluated using echocardiography and fetal ultrasound.

A fibrous connective tissue structure that attaches muscle to bone, appearing as a fibrillar hyperechoic band on ultrasound.

Tendonitis is inflammation or degeneration of a tendon, appearing on ultrasound as tendon thickening and loss of normal echogenic texture.

A teratoma is a tumor containing multiple tissue types such as hair, fat, and teeth, appearing as a complex, echogenic mass on ultrasound.

Testicular carcinoma is cancer of the testicle, typically presenting as a solid, hypoechoic intratesticular mass on ultrasound.

A urologic emergency caused by twisting of the spermatic cord, diagnosed on Doppler ultrasound by absent testicular blood flow.

The testis is the male reproductive gland that produces sperm and testosterone, routinely evaluated by scrotal ultrasound.

A real-time display on ultrasound machines estimating the potential for tissue heating from the ultrasound beam.

Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot within a blood vessel, detected by ultrasound through non-compressibility and absent Doppler flow.

The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the neck that regulates metabolism, commonly evaluated by ultrasound for nodules, size, and texture.

Thyroid carcinoma is cancer of the thyroid gland, characterized on ultrasound by suspicious nodule features like microcalcifications and irregular margins.

A thyroid nodule is a growth within the thyroid gland, assessed by ultrasound for size, characteristics, and cancer risk using the TI-RADS system.

Thyroiditis is inflammation of the thyroid gland, appearing on ultrasound as a diffusely heterogeneous and hypoechoic thyroid.

An amplification adjustment that increases gain for echoes returning from greater depths to compensate for attenuation.