Reverberation ringing, a common artifact in medical ultrasound, appears as multiple bright, parallel lines on the image. This occurs when the ultrasound beam encounters two highly reflective surfaces, causing the sound waves to bounce back and forth between them before returning to the transducer. Such repetitive reflections create these spurious echoes, obscuring underlying anatomy and potentially leading to misdiagnosis.
Accurate identification of reverberation ringing is crucial for ultrasound interpretation. It is frequently observed when scanning structures adjacent to air (like bowel gas) or highly reflective interfaces such as metallic objects (e.g., surgical clips). Understanding this artifact helps sonographers adjust scanning techniques and clinicians differentiate true pathology from imaging distortions, ensuring precise diagnostic assessment in ultrasound imaging.
