[Validation of Doppler arterial flow in humans]

A method of measuring volumetric flow in human arteries with pulsed Doppler technique was developed. Doppler flowmetry was assessed in 11 adult patients whose admission-diagnoses included aneurysm of the aorta or dissections. During surgery, regional blood flows of the left common carotid artery, terminal aorta, common iliac artery, external iliac artery or common femoral artery were measured by Doppler method and electromagnetic flowmeter. Eighty four arterial flow determinations were obtained from the 11 patients studied. On comparison of simultaneous electromagnetic and Doppler measurements of blood flow, an excellent correlation (r = 0.93) was found between the two methods. The slope of the regression line was 0.587. Regional blood flow was measured with Doppler flowmetry in another 9 patients. The values of the left common carotid, celiac, superior mesenteric and terminal aortic flows were 251 +/- 62, 608 +/- 399, 687 +/- 381, 783 +/- 324 ml.min-1, respectively. This method provides an easy, reliable way of measuring regional blood flow.