[In vitro measurement of intravascular blood flow with color Doppler sonography]

The accuracy of colour Doppler sonography for measuring various aspects of intravascular flow (volume and velocity), under varying conditions, was studied experimentally. The effect of variable Doppler angles, different flow paths, frequency and vessel diameter on flow profiles was examined. At all levels of measurement (range 14 ml/min to 566 ml/min) there was a very close correlation between the actual and measured values (r greater than 0.99) and high accuracy. In the detection of very slow flow rates, the use of a specific high pass filter technique was able to quantify blood flow velocities of just under 1 cm./second. Multigated colour Doppler sonography is better for measuring flow volumes than a single channel duplex system.