B-Scan Ultrasound

The B-Scan ultrasound is a diagnostic procedure used for the detection and differentiation of ocular disorders.

The B-scan technique consists of focused, short-wavelengths and an echographic probe that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. The energy is emitted as an advancing acoustic wavefront into the eye, varying its velocity as it passes through various ocular tissues. These tissues will reflect, refract or scatter sound waves, in turn creating recordable echoes that are represented as dots. These dots coalesce and represent two-dimensional images from the posterior to anterior fundus.

In general, the B-scan can be thought of as being similar to the ultrasound that obstetricians use when viewing a fetus in the mother s womb. This test is painless and enables viewing through cloudy media into the back of the eye, as obstetricians see into the mother s womb.