Flow Rate Profiler: an instrument to measure blood velocity profiles

Citation
R. Lombardi et al., Flow Rate Profiler: an instrument to measure blood velocity profiles, ULTRASONICS, 39(2), 2001, pp. 143-150
Citations number
29
Categorie Soggetti
Optics & Acoustics
Journal title
ULTRASONICS
ISSN journal
0041624X → ACNP
Volume
39
Issue
2
Year of publication
2001
Pages
143 - 150
Database
ISI
SICI code
0041-624X(200103)39:2<143:FRPAIT>2.0.ZU;2-K
Abstract
In this paper we present Flow Rate Profiler (FRP), an instrument for measur ing the blood velocity by means of ultrasound-based techniques. The velocit y is directly related to the shear rate, which is in turn proportional to t he shear stress, a parameter expressing the pressure exerted by the blood o n the vessel walls. The knowledge of this value is important in medicine to establish the state of the vessels, directly related to vascular diseases. FRP provides a non-invasive measure of the blood velocity by exploiting th e red corpuscles property of diffusing ultrasound waves: in practice blood velocity is determined by a cross-correlation technique, which analyses the time shift between correlated subsequent echo waves, instead of frequency shift characteristic of the Doppler technique. The acquired data are then p rocessed on a personal computer by means of mathematical techniques based o n the evaluation of the correlation function, giving a reconstructed veloci ty profile and showing a good adherence with experimental data, since the a verage error is nearly the 10%. The reconstructed profile is displayed to t he operator, who can follow the vessel status in real time. A few compariso ns between the reconstructed and the experimental profiles are also present ed, together with a study on a small set of patients suffering from artery hypertension. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.