Quantitative color flow imaging to measure the two-dimensional distribution of blood flow velocity and the flow rate

A quantitative Doppler color flow imaging was employed to measure the two-dimensional distribution of blood flow velocity and flow rate in a large vessel. Regional blood flow velocity was determined by converting the color intensity at the respective pixel into corresponding flow velocity and correcting the flow velocity for spatial ultrasound beam incident angle. Instantaneous flow rate was determined precisely from the image of velocity distribution on the cross-section of the flow tract in a steady flow model circuit. In clinical application, the differences in phasic changes in two-dimensional velocity distribution in the ascending aorta, between normal subjects and the patient with aortic regurgitation, were clearly depicted. The quantitative color flow imaging may have great potential to determine noninvasively and real-timely the two-dimensional distribution of flow velocity as well as flow rate in a large vessel.