Acoustic shadowing

Last revised by William Howden on 7 Mar 2023

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Skalski M, Howden W, Yonso M, et al. Acoustic shadowing. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 29 May 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-24967

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-24967

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/24967

rID:

24967

Article created:

24 Sep 2013, Matt Skalski ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Matt Skalski had no recorded disclosures.

View Matt Skalski's current disclosures

Last revised:

7 Mar 2023, William Howden

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised William Howden had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View William Howden's current disclosures

Revisions:

9 times, by 8 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Sections:

Imaging Technology

Tags:

stub, ultrasound, refs

Synonyms:

Sonographic acoustic shadowing
Posterior acoustic shadowing

Acoustic shadowing (sometimes referred to as posterior acoustic shadowing) is a form of ultrasound artifact. It is characterized by the apparent lack of signal deep to an imaged tissue interface, due to all (or nearly all) of the transmitted sound wave being being reflected back to the transducer or absorbed by the tissue. It commonly occurs when an area of interest contains a high Z/solid tissue (e.g. calcified gallstone or bone) or at an interface with high acoustic impedance mismatch (e.g. soft tissue/air).