ARDMS (American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography) Practice Test

What is the term for the brightness of an ultrasound image?

1. Contrast

2. Intensity

3. Brightness

4. Echogenicity

The correct answer is: Echogenicity

The term that correctly represents the brightness of an ultrasound image is brightness. In ultrasound imaging, brightness refers to the level of light emitted from the display based on the strength of the returning echoes from tissues. Brightness is a critical aspect of image quality because it directly affects the visualization of structures and can highlight differences between various tissues. Echogenicity, on the other hand, describes the ability of a tissue to reflect ultrasound waves, which can contribute to the brightness of the displayed image, but it does not specifically refer to the overall brightness as a parameter. Echogenicity is often used to differentiate between various types of tissues (like solid versus cystic), but is not synonymous with the term for brightness itself. Contrast refers to the difference in brightness between adjacent areas in the ultrasound image, while intensity encompasses the power of the sound waves and how much energy they carry, which ties into the echo strength but isn’t a direct measure of the per-image brightness that a technologist adjusts for optimal visualization.