Calculation of carotid artery flow rates using doppler ultrasound: Implications of velocity profile skewing

Abstract

Doppler ultrasound (DUS) is a non-invasive means of obtaining patient-specific flow boundary conditions in computational modelling studies [1] or estimating volumetric flow in clinical studies [2, 3]. To convert velocity information to a flow waveform, three related assumptions are often applied, 1) that the peak velocity lies in the centre of a cylindrical vessel, 2) that a centrally-located sample volume will thus detect the peak velocity, and 3) that the velocity profile is fully-developed and axisymmetric, being well-approximated by a parabolic (Poiseuille) or Womersley profile. These assumptions may not always be valid, however, even for nominally straight vessels like the common caroti..