Volumetric Blood Flow Measurement with the Use of Dynamic 3-dimensional Ultrasound Color Flow Imaging

We describe a new method for measuring blood volume flow with the use of freehand dynamic 3-dimensional echocardiography. During 10 to 20 cardiac cycles, the ultrasonographic probe was slowly tilted while its spatial position was continuously recorded with a magnetic position sensor system. The ultrasonographic data were acquired in color flow imaging mode, and the separate raw digital tissue and Doppler data were transferred to an external personal computer for postprocessing. From each time step in the reconstructed 3-dimensional data, one cross-sectional slice was extracted with the measured and recorded velocity vector components perpendicular to the slice. The volume flow rate through these slices was found by integrating the velocity vector components, and was independent of the angle between the actual flow direction and the measured velocity vector. Allowing the extracted surface to move according to the movement of anatomic structures, an estimate of the flow through the cardiac valves was achieved. The temporal resolution was preserved in the 3-dimensional reconstruction, and with a frame rate of up to 104 frames/s, the reconstruction jitter artifacts were reduced. Examples of in vivo blood volume flow measurement are given, showing the possibilities of measuring the cardiac output and analyzing blood flow velocity profiles.