performance of echoPIV for assessment of laminar flow profiles in a carotid artery stent.

: Detailed blood flow studies may contribute to improvements in carotid artery stenting. High-frame-rate contrast-enhanced ultrasound followed by particle image velocimetry (PIV), also called echoPIV, is a technique to study blood flow patterns in detail. The performance of echoPIV in presence of a stent has not yet been studied extensively. We compared the performance of echoPIV in stented and nonstented regions in an flow setup. : A carotid artery stent was deployed in a vessel-mimicking phantom. High-frame-rate contrast-enhanced ultrasound images were acquired with various settings. Signal intensities of the contrast agent, velocity values, and flow profiles were calculated. : The results showed decreased signal intensities and correlation coefficients inside the stent, however, PIV analysis in the stent still resulted in plausible flow vectors. : Velocity values and laminar flow profiles can be measured in stented arteries using echoPIV.