[Vascular Color-Coded Duplex Ultrasound in Practice: Artifacts].

Vascular Color-Coded Duplex Ultrasound in Practice: Artifacts Ultrasound artifacts are technical phenomena which may cause diagnostic mistakes and do not correlate with the real target organ. These optical and acoustic phenomena of color-coded duplex ultrasound are very common in the real world and may lead to misinterpretations and diagnostic errors. The twinkling artifact, for example, imitates high-flow velocities and turbulences, which may lead to the misdiagnosis of a high-grade stenosis or of vascularization. Mirror image artifacts may irritate the sonographer and cause an impression of an additional - really not existing - vessel. The "seagull cry", whose origin is not well understood, is usually found in the region of a high-grade stenosis.