Lung Ultrasound Basics and Physics

Lesson Objectives

Become familiarized with ultrasound machines and their components
Understand how an ultrasound image is formed
Know the different modes of ultrasound
Be able to orient yourself based on the ultrasound probe marker and screen marker
Know the different types of transducers, what their strengths are, and what situations you would use each one in
Know the teriminology used for probe manipulation
Learn how to perform a lung ultrasound study (setting up, orientation, landmarks)

What reflects echo waves better, tissue or liquid?
Referring to the question above, how bright will tissue and liquid appear relative to each other?
Do higher or lower frequency waves penetrate deeper in tissue?
Do higher or lower frequency waves produce a higher resolution image?
Where is lateral resolution the highest?
What appears brighter on an ultrasound image, an anechoic or a hypoechoic image?
Which produces a higher resolution image, linear probe or phased-array probe?
Which probe has good temporal resolution?
If no lung preset is on your ultrasound machine, what preset can be used instead?