The Accurate Ultrasonic Measurement of the Volume Flow of Blood by Time Domain Correlation

A new ultrasonic flow measurement method employing time domain correlation of consecutive pairs of echoes has been developed. The time shift between a pair of range gated echoes is determined by searching for t he shift with the maximum correlation. This shift indicates the distance a group of scatterers has moved between pulses. The high precision and good resolution of the velocity estimate indicate that quantitative flow mapping is possible. T otal flow through the vessel is calculated and compared to accurate hydrodynamic flow measurements in order to determine the overall experimental accuracy of the time domain method.