You are performing a sonogram on a patient with highly attenuating tissue. Which of the following solutions would be most likely to improve penetration through the tissue?

You are performing a sonogram on a patient with highly attenuating tissue. Which of the following solutions would be most likely to improve penetration through the tissue?

• A. Decrease dynamic range
• B. Decrease near field TGC
• C. Choose a lower-frequency transducer
• D. Increase the scan line density

Answer: (C)

Lower-frequency ultrasound penetrates deeper because tissue attenuation rises with frequency. Using a lower-frequency transducer reduces energy loss as it travels through highly attenuating tissue, allowing better depth penetration, even though image resolution will be reduced. The other adjustments mainly affect image appearance or resolution rather than penetration: dynamic range changes contrast, near-field TGC tweaks gain in the near field, and increasing scan line density improves sampling and resolution rather than enabling deeper penetration.

Lower-frequency ultrasound penetrates deeper because tissue attenuation rises with frequency. Using a lower-frequency transducer reduces energy loss as it travels through highly attenuating tissue, allowing better depth penetration, even though image resolution will be reduced. The other adjustments mainly affect image appearance or resolution rather than penetration: dynamic range changes contrast, near-field TGC tweaks gain in the near field, and increasing scan line density improves sampling and resolution rather than enabling deeper penetration.