What term denotes the smallest unit of volume in a 3D ultrasound image?

What term denotes the smallest unit of volume in a 3D ultrasound image?

• A. Voxel
• B. Pixel
• C. Echo
• D. Beam

Answer: (A)

In 3D ultrasound imaging, the picture is built from tiny volume elements called voxels. A voxel is the smallest unit of volume because it has dimensions in all three spatial directions (width, height, and depth). Each voxel represents a small cube of tissue and its value encodes the reflected signal from that volume. This is the 3D counterpart to a pixel, which is a 2D element that only samples brightness in a single image plane and lacks depth information. The echo is the returning sound signal from tissue, not a unit of volume, and the beam refers to the ultrasound wave path used to acquire data, not a volume element. So the correct term for the smallest unit of volume in a 3D ultrasound image is voxel.

In 3D ultrasound imaging, the picture is built from tiny volume elements called voxels. A voxel is the smallest unit of volume because it has dimensions in all three spatial directions (width, height, and depth). Each voxel represents a small cube of tissue and its value encodes the reflected signal from that volume. This is the 3D counterpart to a pixel, which is a 2D element that only samples brightness in a single image plane and lacks depth information. The echo is the returning sound signal from tissue, not a unit of volume, and the beam refers to the ultrasound wave path used to acquire data, not a volume element. So the correct term for the smallest unit of volume in a 3D ultrasound image is voxel.