A Correlation between Blood Flow Volume and Ultrasonic Doppler Wave Forms in the Study of Valve Efficiency

Abstract

Objective: To demonstrate a significant correlation between the Doppler waveform and blood flow volume in the assessment of valve efficiency. In particular the objective was to ratify use of the ‘area index’ of the wave form. Design: Pearson's correlation and zero line assessment were used. Using a phantom, multiple tests were performed so that a wide spectrum of flow volumes could be compared with corresponding Doppler waves. Setting: Private diagnostic imaging clinic with vascular surgical association. Main outcome measures: The hypothesis was that there should be a significant correlation between the Doppler wave and the blood flow volume and, in particular, the Doppler area. Results: The Doppler wave index EId demonstrated the highest correlation coefficient ( r = 0.97, p<0.01) when compared with the volume index EIV. Conclusion: While there is a strong correlation between EId and flow volume, additional study is needed to determine its place in the clinical setting.

Ultrasound estimates of venous valve function in screening for insufficiency and following patients with chronic venous disease

“…3, 4). Several other investigators have corroborated this conclusion [3,11]. In one accepts the recirculation theory of venous insufficiency, the measurement of volume of reflux makes more physiologic sense than the time of reflux [3,10].…”

“…Several other investigators have corroborated this conclusion [3,11]. In one accepts the recirculation theory of venous insufficiency, the measurement of volume of reflux makes more physiologic sense than the time of reflux [3,10]. Furthermore, measurement of the volume, rather than the time, of reflux would be expected to correlate better with clinical class [6,23,28] and result after reconstruction [19].…”

“…In addition, there is not a good correlation between VCT and clinical severity of venous disease [7,12,22]. The reflux/augmentation ratio, or reflux volume index (RVI), has been shown to be reliable in experimental [3] and clinical settings [2,[10][11]20]. The RVI has also been found to correlate well with clinical outcome in patients after venous valvuloplasty [18][19].…”

“…Longitudinal reliability of a diagnostic test is important if that test is to be used to follow progression of a chronic process or to assess response to therapeutic intervention. Few studies have assessed the reliability of VCT and RVI [3,9,18,21,26], and none have analyzed the repeatability of VCT and RVI over substantial intervals of time.…”

Improvements of Venous Tone with Pycnogenol in Chronic Venous Insufficiency: An Ex Vivo Study on Venous Segments

“…The age range of the patients was between 35 and 45 years. This venous tone model, [33][34][35][36][37][38][39] All patients gave informed consent to the surgical procedures according to the Helsinki declaration. The postsurgical evaluation was part of a diagnostic test-to which patient consented-used to detect possible differences in the elasticity and tone of varicose veins with the aim of forecasting future varicosity recurrence and to suggest appropriate treatments.…”