British Heart Foundation Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Ultrasound Med Biol. 2013 Aug;39(8):1491-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2013.03.013. Epub 2013 May 24.
Preclinical ultrasound scanners are used to measure blood flow in small animals, but the potential errors in blood velocity measurements have not been quantified. This investigation rectifies this omission through the design and use of phantoms and evaluation of measurement errors for a preclinical ultrasound system (Vevo 770, Visualsonics, Toronto, ON, Canada). A ray model of geometric spectral broadening was used to predict velocity errors. A small-scale rotating phantom, made from tissue-mimicking material, was developed. True and Doppler-measured maximum velocities of the moving targets were compared over a range of angles from 10° to 80°. Results indicate that the maximum velocity was overestimated by up to 158% by spectral Doppler. There was good agreement (<10%) between theoretical velocity errors and measured errors for beam-target angles of 50°-80°. However, for angles of 10°-40°, the agreement was not as good (>50%). The phantom is capable of validating the performance of blood velocity measurement in preclinical ultrasound.
临床前超声扫描仪用于测量小动物的血流，但尚未对血流速度测量中的潜在误差进行量化。本研究通过设计和使用体模以及评估临床前超声系统（Vevo 770，Visualsonics，多伦多，安大略省，加拿大）的测量误差来纠正这一遗漏。使用几何谱展宽的射线模型来预测速度误差。开发了一种由组织模拟材料制成的小型旋转体模。比较了移动目标的真实和多普勒测量最大速度在 10°至 80°的范围内的角度。结果表明，谱多普勒法最大速度高估了 158％。对于束-目标角度为 50°-80°，理论速度误差和测量误差之间具有良好的一致性（<10％）。但是，对于 10°-40°的角度，一致性则不太好（>50％）。该体模能够验证临床前超声中血流速度测量的性能。
