Comet tail artifact

Changed by Daniel J Bell, 10 Jul 2017

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The comet-tail artefact is a grey-scale ultrasound finding seen when small calcific / crystalline / highly reflective objects are interrogated and is believed to be a special form of reverberation artifact.

It is similar to the colour comet-tail artefact and is seen in similar situations, although is in general less sensitive than the ~~later~~latter.

small renal or ureteric calculi
small common bile duct stones
adenomyomatosis of the gallbladder
pancreatic calcifications of chronic pancreatitis
testicular microlithiasis (sometimes)
thyroid colloid nodules
identification of foreign bodies
- surgical clips
- catheter tips
- debris / glass / metal

Differential diagnosis

Possible considerations include:

ring down artefact

Updates to Synonym Attributes

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