NON-INVASIVE PULSED DOPPLER BLOOD VELOCITY-MEASUREMENTS AND CALCULATED FLOW IN HUMAN DIGITAL ARTERIES

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 20  (2) , 15-24
Abstract
Few quantitative studies of blood velocities and calculated flow measurements in the human digital arteries have been reported due to resolution limitations of existing Doppler instruments. Under carefully controlled conditions, blood flow velocities were transcutaneously measured in the 10 digital arteries in the right hand of 5 male adults with a high resolution 20 MHz pulsed Doppler instrument which was calibrated in vitro. A 10mm2 ultrasonic transducer was mounted on a 16 gauge needle in a stereotaxic apparatus at a known Doppler angle to the vessel flow axis. The sample volume (SV) was adjustable in range (1-13 mm) and length (0.3-4.0 mm). To obtain a more uniform acoustic field in the SV, the transmitted pulse was attenuated exponentially at a rate consistent with acoustic attenuation in blood. This permitted measurement of velocity profiles and spatially averaged velocities along the sound beam. Deconvoluted calculations of vessel internal diameter (D) and volume flow rates (Q) were made in the 10 different digital vessels. Velocity waveforms were triphasic with positive diastolic flow. For each vessel, Q correlated with body surface area (P < 0.05) with a coefficient of variance calculated from the normalized flow rate ranging from 10%-38%. Flows in parallel vessels of the middle digits were not significantly different. Noninvasive, spatially averaged blood velocity and calculated flow measurements, which are accurate and reproducible, can apparently be made in human digital arteries.

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