Performance tests of sonographic instruments for the measure of flow speed

This paper describes the performance test of the Pulsed Doppler feature of clinical ultrasound platforms of various manufacturers via a blood flow phantom. This is made up by a tissue mimicking material containing a blood mimicking fluid which circulates in a vessel with a constant mean velocity by means of a centrifuge pump. From the digitized images of the Pulsed Doppler spectra over time, the mean and maximum velocities have been computed with a software package developed by the Authors. For laminar flows with a mean velocity ranging from 1,1±0,7 cm/s and 12,7±0,7 cm/s, measurements on the blood mimicking fluid were obtained using 7 different ultrasound scanner platforms, equipped with phased array and convex array probes. The pooled data have shown an overestimation of the mean velocity, from over 200 percent down to about 40 percent, depending on nominal flow rate and ultrasound equipment composition.