If you've never had a carotid ultrasound, you may be wondering what exactly we're looking at when we put that ultrasound probe on your neck.

You may have heard the term “AAA” before, but if you're not in healthcare, you probably don't know exactly what it means.

If I told you that I was going to do an ABI, PVR and TBI on you, you might think I was speaking another language.

And honestly, unless you've spent time around vascular testing, there's no reason you would know what those letters mean.

I'm an ultrasound technologist who has worked in vascular imaging for more than 20 years, so let me explain what these tests actually do in plain English.

You've probably seen an EKG on television.

Someone lies down, a bunch of little stickers get stuck to their chest, and suddenly there's a bunch of squiggly lines on a screen.

But what are those stickers actually doing?