Comparison of Real-Time In Vivo Spectral and Vector Velocity Estimation

Abstract The purpose of this study is to show whether a newly introduced vector flow method is equal to conventional spectral estimation. Thirty-two common carotid arteries of 16 healthy volunteers were scanned using a BK Medical ProFocus scanner (DK-2730, Herlev, Denmark) and a linear transducer at 5 MHz. A triplex imaging sequence yields both the conventional velocity spectrum and a two-dimensional vector velocity image. Several clinical parameters were estimated and compared for the two methods: Flow angle, peak systole velocity (PS), end diastole velocity (ED) and resistive index (RI). With a paired t -test, the spectral and vector angles did not differ significantly ( p  = 0.658), whereas PS ( p  = 0.034), ED ( p  = 0.004) and RI ( p