Time-averaged mean velocity for volumetric blood flow measurements: an in vitro model validation study using physiological femoral artery flow waveforms

This study assesses the accuracy of the volume flow measurement of the ATL HDI 3000 duplex ultrasound scanner using a model of the femoral arterial circulation. The beam profile of the transducer was measured, and used to identify regions of the beam where there may be poor insonation characteristics. The flow measurement accuracy was not found to be influenced by the vessel depth between 1.0 cm and 8.0 cm in a 0.7 cm diameter vessel. Overall accuracy was 3% ± 9%. Vessels in excess of 0.9 cm produced larger errors. In the model system, pulse rates between 60 bpm and 120 bpm had no significant effect on the measurement accuracy ( p > 0.01). The results of this study suggest that accurate measurements of femoral arterial blood flow are possible. Further work will be required to assess the accuracy of the technique in vivo.