Doppler Ultrasound and

Its Types
MUKTA DAS
 DOPPLER EFFECT :-

• Doppler effect is the change in frequency of sound due to the

relative motion of the source and receiver.
• Christian Doppler described the phenomenon in 1843.
• It is useful in ultrasound imaging to get information about
blood flow in arteries & veins.
 MOVING SOUND

 One or both the sound source and receiver may be stationary or

moving.
 If the sound source moves towards the listener, the sound is
perceived to have a higher frequency/ pitch, and a lower frequency
as it moves away from the listener .
• In ultrasound the doppler effect used to
measure blood flow velocity.
• Ultrasound reflected from red blood cells
will change in frequency according to the
blood flow velocity.

 If blood flow in arteries or vein in towards

the transducer ,transducer will receive
high frequency and shorter wave length.
 If blood flow in arteries or vein in away
from the transducer ,transducer will
receive high frequency and longer
wavelength .
The difference in frequency between transmitted and received echoes is
called the Doppler frequency shift and this shift in frequency is
proportional to the blood flow velocity.
 Doppler Shift

• Doppler shift is the difference between incident frequency

and reflected frequency .
• Movement of the object in the ultrasound beam changes the
frequency of reflected echo and the change of frequency in
know as Doppler shift (Df).
 FACTORS EFFECTING DOPPLER SHIFT

• Doppler angle
• Transducer frequency
• Scattering of US by blood
• Blood flow characteristics
DOPPLER ANGLE
Also known as the angle of insonation.
 The cosine of 90° is zero, so if the ultrasound beam is perpendicular to the
direction of blood flow, there will be no Doppler shift and it will appear as if there
is no flow in the vessel
 The angle of insonation should also be less than 60° at all times, since the cosine
function has a steeper curve above this angle, and errors in angle correction will
be magnified.

ANGLE EFFECTS
 Maximum Doppler shift at 0 degrees minimum at 90 degrees – proportional to
the Cosine of the angle between the beam and direction of travel.
TRANSDUCER FREQUENCY

 Increase in transducer frequency causes increased doppler frequency

shift.

 At frequencies between 2-10 MHz, doppler shift comparatively small &

in audible range

 Change of frequency → measurable → movement of reflector

towards/away from transducer.

 Depending on ↑ or ↓ in frequency → direction of movement.

SCATTERING OF US BY BLOOD

• Smooth wall of blood vessel → specular reflection → strong echoes.

• Us wavelength > size of RBCs → scattering of wave in all directions

(Rayleigh-Tyndall scattering). Size of echo from blood → ↓.
CHARACTERISTICS OF BLOOD FLOW

 Blood (viscous medium) → wall exerts drag effect on moving blood →

slow movement near the wall than center.

 Non pulsatile flow with low velocity → parabolic velocity profile →

laminar flow.

 Fast /accelerated flow → same velocity all over → plug flow.

 Major artery → plug flow during systole & laminar flow during diastole.
Venous flow → laminar.
 BLOOD FLOW PATTERNS
Laminar flow
Layers of flow normal
• Fastest within center of vessel.
• Slowest at vessel wall.

Turbulent flow
• Obstructions disrupt laminar flow
• Disordered directions of flow
Plug flow
 Doppler Ultrasound can be used to
Determine
 Speed of blood flow
 Direction of blood flow
 Flow of blood in veins/arteries
 Location of veins / arteries occlusion.
 TYPES OF DOPPLER

1. Continuous wave doppler

2. Pulsed wave doppler
3. Duplex scanning
4. Color flow doppler imaging
5. Power doppler
 CONTINOUS WAVE DOPPLER (CWD)

 Simple and Least expensive device for measuring blood velocity.

 Two transducers required, one transmitting the incident ultrasound and other detecting the
resultant continues Echoes.
 Sometimes, only one transducer acts as source and receiver of ultrasound.
 The recording echoes are amplified and its frequency is compared with incident frequency, to
estimate the Doppler shift.
 An audio amplifier converts the Doppler shift frequency to an audible sound.
 A recorder tracks the frequency spectrum as a function of time.
 No anatomical image formed.
 Ultrasound is always on.
Basic elements of a CWD instrument
 Oscillator: Produces an electrical Voltage varying at
the resonant frequency of the transducer.
 Transmitting amplifier.
 Transducer: Transmitting transducer, Receiving
transducer.
 Receiving amplifier.
 Demodulator (after amplification the received echoes
are fed into the demodulator, which also received a
signal from the oscillator echoes to that of the
oscillator to produce a signal equal to the difference
in frequencies, the Doppler Shift Signal.
 The receiving transducer and demodulator will detect
any moving structures within the sensitive volume of
the beam.
Application:-
 CWD is usually confined to examination of more superficial structures,
such as the carotid arteries and limb vessels and study of umbilical
artery flow ( 7-10 MHz transducer is used so that the sensitive
registration of beam overlap is limited to superficial structures due to
limited penetration).
 Because of its extreme sensitivity, CWD is useful for examination of
arteries within the eye and breast.
 CWD with a 3 MHz probe is used to monitor fetal heart sound.
Advantage:-
 Simple instrumentation.
 Good quality
 No aliasing
 Low noise signal
Disadvantage:-
 Lacks depth resolution
 Confusing super imposition
 PULSED WAVE DOPLER:-
 Short bursts of Ultrasound present (pulsed wave)
 There will be a “On time” and “Off time” of Ultrasound
 It provides both velocity and depth information simultaneously
 It combines the CWD system (continuous wave Doppler) to provide velocity determination and
the pulse echo system to determine depth.
 It was one transducer in pulse echo format.
 The SPL (Spatial pulse length) is mush longer for accurate determination of frequency shift.
 The depth selective is achieved by an electronic gate window.
 After transmission , the receiving transducer is turned for a specific period of time over the gate
and receives signals that are originating from a specified tissue depth and reject all other
signals.
 The operator can vary the gate position, to select Doppler signals from any depth, along the area
of transducer .
Advantage:-
1. Identification of exact source location.
2. Depth and velocity acquired in one time.

Disadvantage:-
1. Quality may suffer due to background noise (switching)
2. Aliasing
 DUPLEX SCANNER/SPECTRAL DOPPLER:-
 This is the combination of 2D B-mode imaging and pulsed wave Doppler data.
 In this system, the real time image of the anatomy of interest is obtained first and
the image is frozen image.
 Thus, the Doppler mode is switched ON ,the operator mark the position & location of
the signal on the frozen image.
 Thus, the system allows velocity and position information and gives visual display of
anatomy.
 Multiple gate can be operated with several parallel channels. Hence, Doppler signal
consists of spectrum of frequencies ( Doppler spectrum) within the sampling gate for
a given time.
 The video monitor display the spectrum below the B-Mode image, as a moving trace,
which is known as Doppler spectrum(Amplitude v/s time).
Advantage:-
1. Selection of site & sample volume for Doppler.
2. No overlap of information from other vessels /structures.
3. Measurement of vessel angle very quickly (2-3 sec)
Disadvantage:-
1. Angle restriction if same transducer for imaging &
Doppler.
2. Flow information from one site in image.
 COLOR DOPPLER-(COLOR DOPPLER FLOW IMAGING)

 It provider a 2D visual display of moving blood in the vessels or vasculature

which is superimposed on the conventional grey scale image.
 Imaging of flow through entire real-time image.
 Allowing visualization of blood vessels and this flow characteristics + image
of tissue surrounding.
 Colors are designed to detect motion
 BART
Blue Away Red Towards
 Mainly useful in imaging of
valves & Chamber of heart,
carotid & Cardiac arteries &
veins
Advantages:-
 Visual determination of flow direction.
 Improved definition of lumen.
 Vessels small on grey scale image can be scan.
 Image of surrounding tissue also obtained.
Disadvantage:-
 High cost.
 Limitation in slow blood flow.
 POWER DOPPLER

 Power Doppler is signal processing method that relies on the total

strength of Doppler signal (Amplitude) and ignores direction information
 The power mode of signal acquisition is dependent on the amplitude of
all Doppler signal, regardless of sensitivity of motion.
Advantage:-
 No aliasing.
 Angle independent.
 Increased sensitivity to detect low velocity flow.
Disadvantage:-
 Do not provide velocity of flow.
 Do not provide direction of flow.
References :

Textbook Of Radiology For Residents And Technicians

by BHARGAVA S. K (Author)

https://www.slideshare.net/SudilPaudyal/doppler-
ultrasonography-and-advancements-in-usg