Refraction artifact yields which displayed effect?

Refraction artifact yields which displayed effect?

• A. Axial displacement
• B. Increased brightness
• C. Shadowing
• D. Lateral displacement

Answer: (D)

Refraction artifact causes the displayed position of a reflector to shift laterally on the image. When the ultrasound beam crosses an interface where the speed of sound changes, the wave bends. That bending makes echoes return from the same physical structure but appear at a different side-to-side location, so you see a lateral displacement of the object. It doesn’t inherently change how bright an echo is, so brightness isn’t increased. It also doesn’t create the shadowing you’d see from attenuation or blockage by a dense object, and the effect is about horizontal placement rather than depth mapping, so axial misplacement isn’t the primary consequence.

Refraction artifact causes the displayed position of a reflector to shift laterally on the image. When the ultrasound beam crosses an interface where the speed of sound changes, the wave bends. That bending makes echoes return from the same physical structure but appear at a different side-to-side location, so you see a lateral displacement of the object. It doesn’t inherently change how bright an echo is, so brightness isn’t increased. It also doesn’t create the shadowing you’d see from attenuation or blockage by a dense object, and the effect is about horizontal placement rather than depth mapping, so axial misplacement isn’t the primary consequence.