New Method for Quantifying and Correcting Underestimated Cardiac Doppler Blood Flow Velocities: In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

This study was aimed to quantify the underestimation of cardiac Doppler measurements and to explore a method for correction. A dual pulse wave (PW)/Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) mode echocardiographic technique was used in the in vitro and in vivo studies. In the in vitro experiment, we have demonstrated how cardiac valvular motion might interfere with blood velocity estimation using conventional Doppler. When examining the participants, we observed that adding valvular annulus velocity to determine the relative velocity between blood and valvular annulus would result in an increment of 9.3 ± 1.3 cm/s and 6.3 ± 0.9 cm/s for aortic and pulmonary blood flow, 12.8 ± 1.9 cm/s and 8.9 ± 1.4 cm/s for mitral E and A wave, 12.9 ± 1.8 cm/s and 10.2 ± 2.4 cm/s for tricuspid E and A wave. The underestimations of the Doppler measurements markedly influence the hemodynamic parameters commonly used in the clinical practices and researches. This study provides a quantitative method for the correction and would make the Doppler measurement accurate.