Doppler colour flow imaging and flow quantification with a novel forward-viewing intravascular ultrasound system

Gatzoulis, Loukianos; Ramnarine, Kumar V.; Pye, Stephen D.; Anderson, Tom; Newby, David E.; Hoskins, Peter R.; McDicken, W.Norman

doi:10.1016/S0301-5629(02)00699-3

« Previous Next »Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
Volume 29, Issue 1 , Pages 53-64, January 2003

Doppler colour flow imaging and flow quantification with a novel forward-viewing intravascular ultrasound system

Loukianos Gatzoulis
- Department of Medical Physics and Medical Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Kumar V. Ramnarine
- Department of Medical Physics and Medical Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Stephen D. Pye
- Department of Medical Physics and Medical Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Tom Anderson
- Department of Medical Physics and Medical Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
David E. Newby
- Department of Cardiology, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Peter R. Hoskins
- Department of Medical Physics and Medical Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
W.Norman McDicken
- Department of Medical Physics and Medical Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Address correspondence to: Professor W. Norman McDicken, Department of Medical Physics & Medical Engineering, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH3 9YW UK.

Received 2 February 2002; accepted 11 September 2002.

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the potential of a novel forward-viewing intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) system for flow quantification and colour flow imaging combined with B-mode imaging. A stiff 3.8-mm diameter catheter was used to scan a 72° sector ahead of its tip. Operating at 30 MHz, the catheter was integrated with an IVUS scanner and a radiofrequency (RF) data-acquisition system. RF data were software processed for producing B-mode images and deriving velocity estimates. Steady flow in the range of 45 to 146 mL/min toward the catheter, was used in wall-less tissue-mimicking phantoms simulating healthy lumen (8-mm diameter), 30% diameter symmetrical stenosis and 37% diameter eccentric stenosis. The system provided colour flow images and good estimation of peak velocity and volumetric flows (within 1% to 9% and 16% to 48%, respectively, of calculated values) at 5 to 7 mm distal to the catheter. A sector forward-viewing IVUS imaging/Doppler system is suitable for combined anatomical and functional assessment of stenosed vessels. (E-mail: N.McDicken@ed.ac.uk)

Keywords: Intravascular ultrasound, Doppler, Forward-viewing, Colour flow, Flow quantification, Vessel phantom