Yea Physics!
Lateral resolution is the minimum separation of two interfaces aligned along a direction perpendicular to the beam. It depends on the beam width. Plainly, it is the ability to distinguish two objects side by side.
There are a lot of variables that can affect lateral resolution: frequency, depth, focus, number of focal zones and cross beams. This make is it very hard to measure consistently.
Each sound beam that is sent out travels straight to the focus and then spreads out, making the beam wider. Where the focus is, is where your image will be the best, as the beam gets wider all the sound beams begin to overlap causing the dot to be picked up most often. This makes it appear longer, because it is spreading from one beam to the next at the wider portion. This all makes sense in my drawing, but am unsure if I translated it right in this explanation. I sure hope so.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
1st week of Feb
I am having a horrible time remembering to do this. So, here goes. This week was pretty good. I got to spend a whole day with Janet, which is very helpful. She is so good at explaining and showing me how to do things. She also takes a long time letting you scan and helping you along the way. I find this incredibly helpful and am very grateful that she is willing to spend so much time.
I got a bit more comfortable with my carotids and legs thanks to all her help. I was able to complete the whole left side of the carotid with the help of another very patient tech. It just takes so much work getting the vessels as long as you can and making sure everything is lined up to get the best doppler as possible.
I was doing pretty good on the venous legs as well, until Alissa and I went to the ICU to scan a patient that had severe pitting edema and we could not get anything. I got the first 2 pictures and then would get stuck in the imprint left by the transducer. At first Alissa thought that it was crazy that I was pushing so hard to close the veins, so she took over and found out that it really was just that hard. It will be rough to scan those patients all on my own when the time comes. Thankfully Alissa is also very helpful and always tries to give you plenty of time to scan.
I really just need to work on my confidence. I also need to push harder and figure out how to work around those stinkin' ribs.
I got a bit more comfortable with my carotids and legs thanks to all her help. I was able to complete the whole left side of the carotid with the help of another very patient tech. It just takes so much work getting the vessels as long as you can and making sure everything is lined up to get the best doppler as possible.
I was doing pretty good on the venous legs as well, until Alissa and I went to the ICU to scan a patient that had severe pitting edema and we could not get anything. I got the first 2 pictures and then would get stuck in the imprint left by the transducer. At first Alissa thought that it was crazy that I was pushing so hard to close the veins, so she took over and found out that it really was just that hard. It will be rough to scan those patients all on my own when the time comes. Thankfully Alissa is also very helpful and always tries to give you plenty of time to scan.
I really just need to work on my confidence. I also need to push harder and figure out how to work around those stinkin' ribs.
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