Intracardiac Vortex Dynamics by High-Frame-Rate Doppler Vortography—In Vivo Comparison With Vector Flow Mapping and 4-D Flow MRI

Abstract

Recent studies have suggested that intracardiac vortex flow imaging could be of clinical interest to early diagnose the diastolic heart function. Doppler vortography has been introduced as a simple color Doppler method to detect and quantify intraventricular vortices. This method is able to locate a vortex core based on the recognition of an antisymmetric pattern in the Doppler velocity field. Because the heart is a fast-moving organ, high frame rates are needed to decipher the whole blood vortex dynamics during diastole. In this paper, we adapted the vortography method to high-frame-rate echocardiography using circular waves. Time-resolved Doppler vortography was first validated in vitro in an ideal forced vortex. We observed a strong correlation between the core vorticity determined by high-frame-rate vortography and the ground-truth vorticity. Vortography was also tested in vivo in ten healthy volunteers using high-frame-rate duplex ultrasonography. The main vortex that forms during left ventricular filling was tracked during two-three successive cardiac cycles, and its core vorticity was determined at a sampling rate up to 80 duplex images per heartbeat. Three echocardiographic apical views were evaluated. Vortography-derived vorticities were compared with those returned by the 2-D vector flow mapping approach. Comparison with 4-D flow magnetic resonance imaging was also performed in four of the ten volunteers. Strong intermethod agreements were observed when determining the peak vorticity during early filling. It is concluded that high-frame-rate Doppler vortography can accurately investigate the diastolic vortex dynamics.

Riding the Plane Wave: Considerations for In Vivo Study Designs Employing High Frame Rate Ultrasound

“…HiFRUS may also be used in urology applications to gain time-resolved insight into turbulent urinary flow behavior [50]. This technology may be used in cardiac applications to study myocardial contraction [51,52] and intraventricular flow patterns [53,54], although these techniques need further refinement. Emerging developments in HiFRUS methodologies, including the incorporation of contrast agents [55] and state-of-the-art 4D imaging [56], will undoubtedly lead to further physiological discoveries to enhance application prospects in this field.…”

Comparison Between Multiline Transmission and Diverging Wave Imaging: Assessment of Image Quality and Motion Estimation Accuracy

“…As an alternative, the frame rate can be increased using focused beam approaches like multi-line transmission MLT [9]. The achieved high frame rates led to innovative quantitative tools in echocardiography, such as the assessment of the electro-mechanical properties of the heart [10], solving the incompatibility between imaging and quantification for blood flow characterization [11], [12] and the evaluation of 2D vector flow dynamics within the same cardiac cycle [13] .…”

Towards 3-D tissue doppler ultrafast echocardiography: An in vitro study

“…For example, improving temporal resolution of 3D echo would allow capturing rapid phases of the whole left ventricle for a better assessment of cardiac function. Furthermore, pediatric echocardiography [1], blood flow quantification [2], assessment of the electromechanical properties [3] could also benefit from 3D ultrafast echocardiography.…”