Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
Citation:
Botz B, Knipe H, Campos A, Flashlight sign (B-flow). Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 25 Mar 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-155594
Disclosures:
At the time the article was last revised Henry Knipe had the following disclosures:
- Integral Diagnostics, Shareholder (ongoing)
- Micro-X Ltd, Shareholder (ongoing)
These were assessed during peer review and were determined to
not be relevant to the changes that were made.
View Henry Knipe's current disclosures
The flashlight sign is a B-flow vascular ultrasound sign caused by wall adherent and floating thrombi and emboli in arteries, which appear as bright spots on imaging.
Radiographic features
Ultrasound
The flashlight sign is described as a moving, very bright intraluminal focus of signal on B-flow 1.
Practical points
According to the first small-scale study, the sensitivity of the B-flow flashlight sign exceeds that of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and CT angiography in detecting floating intraluminal particles. It is also likely that the presence of such particles signals an increased risk of subsequent downstream embolization, thereby influencing prognosis and management 1.
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1. Lottspeich C, Puhr-Westerheide D, Stana J, Hoffmann U, Czihal M. The Flashlight-Sign: A Novel B-Flow Based Ultrasound Finding for Detection of Intraluminal, Wall-Adherent, Floating Structures of the Abdominal Aorta and Peripheral Arteries. Diagnostics (Basel). 2022;12(7):1708. doi:10.3390/diagnostics12071708 - Pubmed
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