Ultrasound Basics - Commonly Used Modes
• B-mode (brightness mode): Standard 2D gray-scale image.
• D-mode (doppler): Detects flow to or away from transducer. Useful to find and define vessels, flow across valves
o Color → direction and velocity are color coded and superimposed on B-mode
image. “BART” (Blue is Away from probe, Red is Towards)
o Power → detects very low flow but not direction, useful in vascular compromise
o Spectral → velocity presented graphically on a timeline
• M-mode (motion mode): Takes a slice of a B-mode image over time. Often used in TTE. Useful to assess lung sliding for pneumothorax.
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