How Do Ultrasonographic Images Capture Dynamic Changes in the Body?

[curiousman]

Hi team of experts,
Firstly, I'm not a physicist so apologies for the high level of ignorance.

How do ultrosonographic images work? Let's assume I want to observe dynamic changes within a specific area of the body. What type of dynamic changes are detected on those images?

Thanks,
Jose

 

[jim mcnamara]

Ultrasound works like radar (kind of light waves) or the way bats (kind of high pitched sound waves) help something to "see". The machine emits sound and receives back sound that bounces off objects that have different densities; bone versus muscle and so on. Different emitter settings and different receiver processing settings allow the machine to perform differing analyses. It is a big subject. NIH has an entire institute given over to medical imaging - xrays, sonography, radio isotope imaging, MRI and PET technologies. Each of these has application where they really shine as investigative tools. No one technology works really well or is actually practical in every kind of test.

Ultrasound is one of many:
https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~jharlow/teaching/phy138_0708/lec04/ultrasoundx.htm.

If you want an answer to 'observe dynamic changes within a specific area of the body' you need to state specifics. Like I want to see peristalsis or muscle contraction.

No specifics means we cannot give you a good answer.

 

[curiousman]

Thanks Jim.
I have found an abstract summary referring to Chinese Medicine: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29105475
St36 - Zu San Li is an acupuncture point located about four-finger space below the patella in the depression on the lateral side of the tibia. It seems that ultrasonic waves were applied on the area at the time that the point was punctured with a needle. The result seems to be positive in the way that Chinese Medicine explains as DeQi sensation, directly proportional to the acupuncture effect.

DeQi sensation does not generate physical changes within the body once they are inserted apart of some kind of skin redness, gooseflesh around the needle insertion which I assume it's what was detected on the images.

Would it have any other rational explanation apart of the suggested above?

 

[jim mcnamara]

We just left the bounds of things we can effectively discuss here. Thread closed.