ASSESSMENT OF COLOR DOPPLER TISSUE IMAGING USING TEST-PHANTOMS

An investigation has been carried out on the velocity resolution, spat ial resolution and accuracy of Doppler images as part of a study into the Doppler display of cardiac tissue motion. Test-phantoms were desig ned to perform this work and images were captured on a computer. The c haracteristics of the phantom images and of the image capture process were studied. The smallest detail that was observed in the Doppler ima ge was 3 mm by 3 mm. Doppler receive gain and Doppler ensemble size bo th affected velocity resolution. Different target materials gave diffe rent measures for velocity resolution. This could be related to the di fferent back-scatter intensities of the materials.