Volume flow measurement of pulsatile flow by digitised cine angiography.

The validation, by phantom experiments, of a method of measuring volumetric, pulsatile blood flow in vessels of about 4 mm calibre is described. 'Instantaneous' as well as integrated flow is obtained from cine angiograms by digitisation of the images and densitometric analysis in an advanced computer vision analysis system. From 48 frames per second cine, pulsatile flow at any moment between 0 and about 400 ml/min was calculated within about 10 per cent of the electromagnetic flow meter reading. Further improvement is expected. It is proposed to advance to 3D and have the methodology available for clinical use in due course.