Probe handling & scan planes
Learning chapters: Probe movements
An ultrasound image is a section through a three-dimensional body. Fanning, rocking, rotating and translating the transducer change the plane you see. Learn each movement separately and relate it to the resulting anatomical changes on the screen.
The exercise begins with transvaginal handling at 3:29. The following chapters cover rotational and translational movements, followed by simulated contact loss and compression. Select the movement you would like to understand and then practise yourself.
- Fanning
- Rocking
- Rotation
- Sweeping / sliding
- Transvaginal
3:29Orient the virtual transvaginal probe
Orient the virtual transvaginal probe
The hand position for a transvaginal case differs from handling a linear or curved transducer on the body surface. The video demonstrates the smartphone’s starting position and alignment before choosing Reset Position. Subsequent movements are interpreted relative to this reference.
Compare your hand position with the pictogram and the displayed pelvic anatomy. Make small, deliberate changes along a single axis. The aim is to connect each change in the image plane with a particular movement rather than alter several axes at the same time.
Align the virtual transvaginal probe and then change only one movement axis.
Check your understanding
Why do you establish a clear starting position for the virtual probe first?
Show the explanation
The starting position provides a reference for the simulated movements. You can then change one movement axis and relate it to the corresponding change in the pictogram and ultrasound image.
3:44Fanning through adjacent imaging planes
Fanning through adjacent imaging planes
Fanning moves the handle perpendicular to the long axis of the transducer footprint while keeping the contact location fixed. This axis runs from the marked end to the opposite end of the footprint. The beam moves out of the current imaging plane through adjacent sections.
Watch how controlled fanning changes the structures displayed in the tutorial. Practise this movement on its own, keeping the probe location and rotation constant and avoiding additional rocking.
Fan slowly through the volume and return to the original plane.
Check your understanding
What changes when you fan the probe while keeping its location approximately fixed?
Show the explanation
The beam moves out of the current imaging plane through adjacent sections. The handle moves perpendicular to the long axis of the footprint while the contact location stays fixed.
4:02Rocking to adjust the insonation angle
Rocking to adjust the insonation angle
Rocking moves the handle along the long axis of the transducer footprint, towards its marked or opposite end, while the contact location stays fixed. It redirects the beam within the same imaging plane rather than through adjacent planes.
Use this movement to bring an off-centre structure towards the middle of the image. Start with a small movement and observe the direction in which the structure moves on screen.
Make a small rocking movement, then bring the same structure back to the centre of the view.
Check your understanding
What distinguishes rocking from fanning?
Show the explanation
Rocking redirects the beam within the same imaging plane. Fanning moves the beam through adjacent imaging planes. Both keep the contact location fixed.
4:11Rotate from a transverse to a sagittal view
Rotate from a transverse to a sagittal view
Rotation turns the transducer around its longitudinal axis. The video demonstrates rotating the smartphone from a transverse orientation towards a sagittal plane. The line in the pictogram helps relate the new scan plane to the body.
An approximately right-angle rotation brings you towards another main anatomical plane when the remaining alignment is appropriate. Try to keep the structure in view as you turn. This connects short- and long-axis appearances of the same anatomy.
Find a structure transversely, rotate gradually and identify its corresponding longitudinal appearance.
Check your understanding
Around which axis does the probe turn during rotation?
Show the explanation
It turns around its longitudinal axis, changing the orientation of the scan plane. With suitable initial alignment, an approximately right-angle turn changes a transverse view into a longitudinal view.
4:29Sweeping and sliding: translational movements
Sweeping and sliding: translational movements
Translation changes the transducer’s location. In the tutorial’s Swipe mode, up-and-down gestures control one direction while side-to-side gestures control the other. In realScan mode, the smartphone itself moves through space.
Sliding moves the probe along the long axis of its footprint, towards the marked or opposite end. Keep surface contact, angle and rotation unchanged.
Sweeping moves the probe perpendicular to that long axis, across the short axis of the footprint. Move to a new contact location while keeping the angle and rotation unchanged to acquire adjacent imaging planes.
Compare a pure translation with fanning and describe how the image changes in each case.
Check your understanding
What should you keep approximately constant during a pure translation?
Show the explanation
Keep the probe angle and rotation approximately constant. This mainly changes its location, allowing you to observe the effect of translation on the ultrasound image.
5:09realScan: transfer movements through space
realScan: transfer movements through space
The realScan demonstration begins by initialising the sensors. The tutorial highlights good lighting and a surface with visual contrast. After briefly moving the device to establish its surroundings, the starting orientation is defined with Reset Position.
You can then reproduce the demonstrated translational movements with the smartphone itself. Compare your movement with the changing ultrasound plane. This lesson focuses on transducer handling; use the separate, newer tutorial for device connection instructions.
Start at a defined reference position, perform a translation and then perform a separate rotation.
Check your understanding
How do you control translational movements in realScan mode?
Show the explanation
After defining the starting position, move the smartphone itself through space. The simulator transfers this movement to the virtual probe. Good lighting and a contrasting surface help establish orientation.
5:47airScan: simulate contact loss and compression
airScan: simulate contact loss and compression
The airScan section extends realScan with vertical movement. Reset Position defines a virtual body surface. Raising the smartphone simulates loss of contact; lowering it restores contact with the virtual surface.
Moving further below the reference surface simulates compression. Distinguish the three states: no contact, contact and pressure on virtual tissue. This section explains the movement logic of the simulator; it is not an instruction to apply pressure during a real transvaginal examination.
Move deliberately between contact, loss of contact and simulated compression.
Check your understanding
What happens in the simulation when you lift the smartphone above the defined surface?
Show the explanation
The virtual probe loses contact and the simulated image reflects that loss. Lowering the phone restores contact, while moving below the reference surface simulates compression.
