Ultrasonic phased-array scanner with digital echo synthesis for Doppler echocardiography.

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular imaging
• Medical ultrasonography
• Biomedical engineering

Background:

• Subtle cardiovascular disease processes require advanced quantitative assessment methods.
• Existing ultrasound technologies may have limitations in precise blood flow velocity measurement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an electronically steered sector scanner for quantitative cardiovascular assessment.
• To integrate echographic imaging with Doppler blood velocity measurements.
• To achieve simultaneous blood velocity evaluation of 64 individual gates using FFT Doppler.

Main Methods:

• Development of an electronically steered sector scanner.
• Integration of echographic imaging and Doppler blood velocity measurements.
• Implementation of a fast Fourier transform (FFT) Doppler signal processor for real-time spectral analysis of 64 gates.

Main Results:

• The developed instrument enables real-time computation of complex Doppler spectra for 64 gates.
• First moment computation provides reliable estimates of mean blood flow velocities.
• Display of instantaneous velocity profiles, volume flow rate, and frequency spectra.

Conclusions:

• The integrated system offers a reliable method for quantitative assessment of cardiovascular hemodynamics.
• High levels of digital signal processing contribute to system reliability and manufacturing potential.
• Further integration of digital signal processing is feasible for advanced ultrasonic systems.