Femoral Blood Flow Determination with a Multichannel Digital Pulsed Doppler: An Experimental Study on Anesthetized Dogs

Since Satomura first described an ultrasonic device using the Doppler effect to detect blood flow in 1959, more recent advances in medical engineer ing have met the need for non-invasive, quantitative measurement of blood flow in peripheral arteries. 1 This goal can now be achieved with the use of a pulsed Doppler combined with an A-mode scan to estimate the angle of the ultrasound beam and the dimensions of the vessel. Although several authors have already published data concerning blood flow volume obtained by continuous wave or pulsed Doppler devices in human peripheral arteries 2,3,4 or in animal experiments, 5,6,7 the accuracy of their meas urements was only correlated with indirect blood flow determinations such as electromagnetic flowmetry or venous occlusion plethysmography. The present study compares the values of blood flow volume obtained by a Multichannel Digital Pulsed Doppler (MDPD) and by direct timed blood collec tion (DTBC) in the canine common femoral artery.