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SU‐G‐IeP4‐01: A Simple Doppler Flow Phantom Design for Evaluation of Doppler Ultrasound Systems
Author(s) -
Ozus B,
Chen J,
Beeson J,
Feng J
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.4957096
Subject(s) - imaging phantom , doppler effect , ultrasound , biomedical engineering , pulsatile flow , saline , blood flow , doppler ultrasound , materials science , flow (mathematics) , nuclear medicine , acoustics , medicine , physics , radiology , anesthesia , astronomy , mechanics , cardiology
Purpose: There are a number of commercially available flow phantoms for evaluating Doppler ultrasound systems. However, it may be hard to justify purchasing these phantoms if a hospital has a small number of ultrasound units to evaluate. In this study, we developed a simple flow phantom with parts available in a hospital to evaluate Doppler ultrasound systems. Methods: To create a flow reserve, one end of an IV line was connected to a 100 ml saline bag and the line was filled with saline. 20 ml of glycerin was injected into the saline bag to simulate blood like flow characteristics. The other end of the IV line was also connected to the saline bag to create a loop. The IV line was fed into an infusion pump (programmable up to 999 ml/hr) and was also placed between a uniform ultrasound phantom and a standoff gel pad. To minimize impedance differences, acoustic gel was used between the phantom and the gel pad. Doppler measurements were performed on two Philips iU22 ultrasound units using the L12‐5 probes. Results: The pulsatile flow of the solution in the IV line could be seen in the Doppler mode when the infusion pump was running. The color Doppler also indicated the direction of the flow via overlaid red or blue color on the grayscale B‐mode ultrasound image of the IV line. The directionality of the flow could be confirmed by reversing the direction of the probe. The peak flow rates (cm/s) observed on the waveforms were reproducible within %10 when the measurements were repeated. Conclusion: A simple flow phantom can be developed from materials available in a hospital for routine evaluation of Doppler ultrasound systems.