I think this would be difficult for surface ultrasound as the surface (the patient) is deformable! Varying degreees of pressure are used as part of the diagnos

I think this would be difficult for surface ultrasound as the surface (the patient) is deformable! Varying degreees of pressure are used as part of the diagnostic process. For example, if you are trying to tell a vein from an artery, all things being equal, less force is required to compress a vein than an artery. Typically ultrasound is used in an interactive way, not to generate static images for interpretation. This applies equally to diagnostics and procedural use.