Evaluation of transcutaneous Doppler ultrasonography for the measurement of blood flow in the femoral artery of pigs.
OBJECTIVE
To compare measurements of blood flow in the common femoral artery obtained by duplex Doppler ultrasonography (DDU) and a reference ultrasonic transit-time flow (TTF) method and to examine the impact of Doppler spectral waveform measurement techniques on volumetric estimates.


METHODS
5 healthy female pigs.


METHODS
Femoral arterial blood flow was measured simultaneously in anesthetized pigs by use of a TTF probe (left femoral artery) and transcutaneous DDU (right femoral artery). A range of flow states was induced pharmacologically by using xylazine, bradykinin, dobutamine, and isoflurane. Volumetric blood flow was calculated from DDU waveforms, using the product of the flow velocity integral (FVI), the cross-sectional vessel area, and heart rate. Three calculations of FVI were obtained by manually tracing the Doppler spectral envelopes at the outer envelope, the modal, and the inner envelope of the spectral dispersion pattern. Data analysis included calculation of Pearson correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman limits of agreement.


RESULTS
Blood flow measured by DDU was more closely correlated with TTF measurements when the modal or inner envelope tracing method was used (r, 0.76 and 0.78; limits of agreement, -100 to 54.2 and -48.5 to 770 mL/min, respectively). Limits of agreement for the outer envelope tracing method were -238.5 to 64 mL/min.


CONCLUSIONS
Transcutaneous DDU is a reliable noninvasive technique for measuring blood flow in the femoral artery of pigs over a range of flow states. Tracing the inner envelope of the Doppler spectral dispersion pattern provided the best estimate of blood flow in this study.
Fernández del Palacio
Maria Josefa
MJ
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65201, USA.
Luis Fuentes
Virginia
V
Bonagura
John D
JD
Schober
Karsten E
KE
Hatfield
Daniel G
DG
Laughlin
M Harold
MH
D000316:Adrenergic alpha-Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000318:Adrenergic beta-Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D001920:Bradykinin / Q000494:pharmacology; D004280:Dobutamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000098:blood supply*; D007530:Isoflurane / Q000494:pharmacology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013552:Swine / Q000502:physiology*; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D014991:Xylazine / Q000494:pharmacology
D000316:Adrenergic alpha-Agonists; D000318:Adrenergic beta-Agonists; D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D014991:Xylazine; D004280:Dobutamine; D007530:Isoflurane; D001920:Bradykinin