Screen Orientation

Probe positioning and probe movements influence the location of images as they appear on the screen. Images can be appreciated in two different dimensions or planes of view when looking at the screen: Top down (vertical) and side to side (horizontal).

Vertical (Top-down): When the probe is placed on the skin, tissue that appear at the top of the screen are those that are closest to the skin surface. The farther a structure is from the surface of the skin and the probe face, the farther down it appears on the screen. Use the depth markers located on the side of the screen to determine the approximate depth of structures in the field of interest. Differentiating superficial from deep on the ultrasound screen is easy and intuitive. No matter which way you turn or rotate the probe, you still maintain a panoramic view looking down from the surface of the skin.

Horizontal (Side to side): Objects on the screen are related to each other based on their position along the same line (formed by the long axis of the probe) and are displayed on the screen in a horizontal, side to side orientation. The goal is to create an anatomically correct view of body structures on the screen as seen from the ultrasound's perspective. This means that when working on the right side of the patient's body, images appear on the right side of the screen when the probe is moved toward the scanner's right. When working on the left side of the patient's body, images come into view from the left side of the screen when moving the probe toward the left. If they do not, simply rotate the probe 180 degrees to achieve the desired right/left orientation.