Words to know before pathophysiology

1.Absorption – When sound waves lose energy as they travel through a material, turning into heat.

2. Acoustic impedance – How much resistance sound encounters when moving through a substance.

3. Aliasing – A type of distortion that happens when the ultrasound machine captures motion too fast to be displayed correctly.

4. Amplitude – The strength or loudness of a sound wave.

5. Angle of incidence – The angle at which a sound wave hits a surface.

6. Angle of reflection – The angle at which a sound wave bounces off a surface.

7. Attenuation – The weakening of a sound wave as it moves through a substance.

8. Axial resolution – How well an ultrasound can distinguish two objects that are close together along the direction of the sound beam.

9. Azimuthal resolution – How well an ultrasound can distinguish two objects that are side by side.

10. Color flow Doppler – A type of ultrasound that shows blood flow in different colors to indicate direction and speed.

11. Compression – The process of making the range of ultrasound signals easier to display and interpret.

12. Continuous wave Doppler (CW) – A type of Doppler ultrasound that continuously sends and receives sound waves to measure blood flow.

13. Cycle – One complete vibration of a sound wave.

14. Decibel (dB) – A unit that measures the strength of sound.

15. Depth gain compensation (DGC) – A setting that adjusts the brightness of deeper structures to make them clearer.

16. Doppler angle – The angle between the ultrasound beam and the direction of blood flow, which affects how accurately speed is measured.

17. Doppler shift – The change in frequency of a sound wave as it reflects off a moving object, used to measure blood flow.

18. Dynamic range – The range of signals the ultrasound machine can process, from the weakest to the strongest.

19. Focal zone – The area where the ultrasound beam is the sharpest and clearest.

20. Frame rate – How many images the ultrasound machine captures per second, affecting how smooth the image looks.

21. Frequency shift – A change in sound wave frequency due to movement, used in Doppler ultrasound.

22. Gain – A control that adjusts the brightness of the ultrasound image.

23. Gray scale – Different shades of gray in an ultrasound image that help distinguish different tissues.

24. Hertz (Hz) – A unit measuring the number of sound waves per second.

25. Gate – A control that selects a specific area to measure blood flow in Doppler ultrasound.

26. Intensity – The strength of the ultrasound beam.

27. Interface – The boundary between two different tissues where sound waves reflect.

28. Kilohertz (kHz) – A unit of frequency equal to 1,000 Hertz.

29. Laminar – Smooth, orderly blood flow in the same direction.

30. Lateral resolution – How well an ultrasound can distinguish two objects that are next to each other.

31. Megahertz (MHz) – A unit of frequency equal to 1 million Hertz, commonly used in ultrasound.

32. Nyquist sampling limit – The maximum speed that can be accurately measured with Doppler ultrasound before aliasing occurs.

33. Power – The strength of the ultrasound signal.

34. Pulse duration – The length of time an ultrasound pulse lasts.

35. Pulsed wave (PW) Doppler – A Doppler ultrasound that sends out pulses of sound instead of a continuous wave, allowing depth measurement.

36. Pulse repetition frequency (PRF) – How often ultrasound pulses are sent out per second.

37. Rarefaction – The part of a sound wave where the air or tissue is less dense.

38. Real time – The ability of ultrasound to display moving images instantly.

39. Reflection – When sound waves bounce off a surface and return to the ultrasound probe.

40. Refraction – When sound waves bend as they pass through different tissues.

41. Resistance – How much a material resists the movement of sound waves or blood flow.

42. Resolution – The ability to see small details in an ultrasound image.

43. Scattering – When sound waves hit small objects and spread out in different directions.

44. Slice thickness – The thickness of the ultrasound beam, which affects image clarity.

45. Spectral analysis – A detailed breakdown of Doppler signals to measure speed and direction of blood flow.

46. Spectral broadening – A widening of the range of Doppler signals, often due to turbulence or different speeds of blood flow.

47. Spatial pulse length – The physical length of one ultrasound pulse.

48. Temporal resolution – How well an ultrasound captures fast-moving objects over time.

49. Time gain compensation (TGC) – A control that makes deeper structures appear as bright as shallower ones.

50. Transducer – The part of the ultrasound machine that sends and receives sound waves.

51. Turbulent – Chaotic, irregular blood flow.

52. Velocity – The speed of movement, often referring to blood flow in ultrasound.

53. Wave – A repeated movement of sound energy.

54. Wavelength – The distance between two peaks of a sound wave.