title: Power Doppler ultrasound imaging for quantification of urinary bladder neck blood flow changes.
abstract: This study was designed to evaluate power Doppler imaging for assessment of urinary bladder neck blood flow in comparison with laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) in an animal model. Transrectal power Doppler ultrasound (US) and LDF of the urinary bladder neck were performed in three anesthetized pigs during comparative cystometry. Normal saline (NaCl) was used for the first run, followed by a second run with 0.2 mol/L potassium chloride (KCl). Standardized sonographic equipment settings (Acuson Sequoia 512); MountainView, CA) were used for power Doppler imaging. Computer-assisted calculation of color pixel density (CPD) of power Doppler images was performed using Scion Image) software image analysis. Tissue perfusion units (TPU) were measured using a BLF21 laser Doppler flowmeter (Transonic Systems Inc., Ithaca, NY, USA). The power Doppler results were compared with the findings obtained by LDF. NaCl filling resulted in a mean CPD increase at the bladder neck from 18.65 (+/- 1.78) at empty bladder to 37.8 (+/- 1.84) at 100 mL and to 88.32 (+/- 1.35) at full bladder capacity (C(max)) of 270 mL, respectively. With KCl filling, a mean CPD increase from 18.65 (+/- 1.78) to 59.63 (+/- 0.5) at 100 mL and 110.82 (+/- 2.98) at full bladder capacity (270 mL) was observed. The CPD increase was significantly higher for KCl than with NaCl (p < 0.001). With NaCl filling, bladder neck blood flow increased from 22 TPU (empty) to 46 TPU (100 mL) and 62.5 TPU at C(max), compared to 22 TPU, 50 TPU and 102.5 TPU with KCl. CPD and TPU measurements showed a strong correlation at p = 0.01. In conclusion, transrectal power Doppler US image quantification is a feasible and accurate method for assessing blood flow changes in the urinary bladder neck.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, LKH Feldkirch, Feldkirch A-6800, Austria. antonius.schuster@lkhf.at
authors.forename: Antonius
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: Ferdinand
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Frauscher
authors.forename: Hannes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Strasser
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Recheis
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pallwein
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Herwig
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bartsch
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: zur Nedden
authors.forename: Germar-Michael
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Pinggera
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D004106:Dilatation; D005260:Female; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry / Q000379:methods; D023421:Models, Animal; D011189:Potassium Chloride; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D013552:Swine; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color / Q000379:methods*; D001743:Urinary Bladder / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014563:Urodynamics
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride; D011189:Potassium Chloride