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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