Ultrasound lung surface: Basic considerations of ultrasound physics

Abstract

Highlights from the article: We read with interest the study by Zoneff I et al i .[1] focused on the prevalence of lung surface abnormalities in young and older healthy volunteers. Ultrasound scanner machines are calibrated at a homogeneous and constant sound speed of approximately 1500 m/s. However, propagation speed of the ultrasound in lungs is approximately 440 m/s. So that, more than 96% of the ultrasound beam is reflected at tissue-chest wall/air-lung interface. In fact, these artefacts are not visible during intraoperative lung ultrasound[7] (Figure D), since there is no longer the great acoustic impedance difference of the chest wall/lung.