Combined B-Mode and Multigate Spectral Doppler-Mode Imaging for Flow-Mediated Dilation Investigation

Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is an established non-invasive method to assess the endothelial function by ultrasound. Blood flow in the brachial artery is restricted by a cuff for about 5 min: during the reactive hyperemia following occlusion release, the consequent increase in wall shear stress stimulates the endothelial cells to release nitric oxide, a powerful vasodilator that causes relaxation of tunica media smooth muscle. By measuring the arterial diameter change induced by reactive hyperemia, a possible endothelial dysfunction can be detected. The traditional approach consists in the evaluation of arterial diameter changes, while the shear stress increase (i.e. the stimulus for dilation) has not been directly estimated so far. This paper describes an approach to simultaneously measure the wall shear rate (WSR), i.e. the blood velocity gradient near the walls, and the associated diameter changes. The WSR is measured through multigate spectral Doppler (MSD) analysis while B-Mode images are processed to estimate the instantaneous diameter. This approach was implemented in the ULtrasound Advanced Open Platform (ULA-OP), which can be programmed to arbitrarily interleave B- and PW Doppler- Modes. The method implementation and the results of a clinical validation over 15 healthy volunteers are reported.