An automatic system for capturing and processing ultrasonic Doppler signals and blood pressure signals

A totally automatic system for capturing and processing ultrasonic Doppler signals and blood pressure signals at pre-programmed intervals is described. The Doppler signals are Fourier transformed and a composite maximum frequency envelope extracted from the spectral data. The frequency envelope is split into individual cardiac cycles and a number of Doppler parameters calculated. All Doppler and blood pressure results are stored on disc, and the most important may be displayed in the form of trend graphs on a computer screen. The system has been used to study variations in middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity and systemic blood pressure in neonates over periods of several hours.