title: An ultrasonographic technique to assess the jugular venous pulse: a proof of concept.
abstract: The purpose of the work described here was to investigate the feasibility of assessing the jugular venous pulse (JVP) using ultrasound (US) equipment. Three young healthy subjects underwent a B-mode US scan of the internal jugular vein (IJV) to acquire a sonogram sequence in the transverse plane. On each acquired sonogram, the IJV contour was manually traced, and both the cross-sectional area (CSA) and the perimeter were measured. The CSA data set represents the US jugular diagram (USJD). The arterial distension waveform of the subjects was compared with its USJD. The correlation between the CSA and the perimeter was assessed during the cardiac cycle to verify IJV distension. For each subject, a short sonogram sequence of a few seconds was recorded, and the USJD obtained exhibited periodic behavior. Furthermore, for all subjects, the CSA was found to be correlated with the perimeter (Pearson coefficient, R > 0.9), indicating that the IJV in supine position is distended. We compared 390 manually traced contours of the IJV cross-sectional area with corresponding values semi-automatically calculated by an algorithm developed in-house. For all subjects, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were around 95%, 85% and 90% respectively. We found that a diagram reflecting the JVP can be obtained by analyzing a B-mode sonogram sequence of the IJV; such a diagram can result in a new methodology to assess the IJV functionality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy. Electronic address: ssf@unife.it.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sisini
authors.affiliation: Vascular Diseases Center, University of Ferrara, Cona, Italy.
authors.forename: Mirko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tessari
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gadda
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Domenico
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taibi
authors.affiliation: Vascular Diseases Center, University of Ferrara, Cona, Italy.
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Menegatti
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gambaccini
authors.affiliation: Vascular Diseases Center, University of Ferrara, Cona, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zamboni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D007601:Jugular Veins / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011674:Pulse / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*; D059289:Vascular Stiffness / Q000502:physiology; D014690:Venous Pressure / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Cerebral outflow; Edge detection; Internal jugular vein; Jugular venous pulse; Venous return