ARDMS (American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography) Practice Test

Disable ads (and more) with a membership for a one time $2.99 payment

Prepare for the ARDMS Exam with our comprehensive quiz platform. Test your knowledge using flashcards and multiple-choice questions, complete with hints and detailed explanations. Get ready to ace your diagnostic medical sonography certification!

Practice this question and more.


If a sonographer must interrogate a blood vessel that displays slow flow once color Doppler is applied, what should be done to the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) to improve the visualization of flow?

  1. Adjusting the PRF has no effect.

  2. Decrease the PRF.

  3. Increase the PRF.

  4. Adjusting the PRF will create aliasing.

The correct answer is: Adjusting the PRF has no effect.

When dealing with slow flow in a blood vessel, adjusting the Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) might not always improve visualization. This is because PRF primarily affects the depth of penetration and the maximum velocity that can be measured accurately rather than the visualization of slow flow within a vessel. Slow flow may be better visualized by optimizing other settings such as wall filters or gain levels rather than solely adjusting the PRF. Therefore, in this scenario, adjusting the PRF may not have a significant impact on improving the visualization of slow flow in the blood vessel.