B-Flow, Power Doppler and Color Doppler Ultrasound in the Assessment of Carotid Stenosis: Comparison with 64-MD-CT Angiography
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- Category: Vol. 85, March 2017
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B-Flow, Power Doppler and Color Doppler Ultrasound in the Assessment of Carotid Stenosis: Comparison with 64-MD-CT Angiography, AHMED H.F. ABBASSY, RASHA WESAM, HATEM EL-AZIZY and SAHAR M. EL-MASHED
Abstract
Background: B-flow is a new digital vascular ultrasound technique. B-flow is based on a digital subtraction principle. B-Flow provides direct visualization of blood echoes, extending the wideband resolution, high frame rates and wide dynamic range of B-mode to simultaneous imaging of blood flow and tissue.
Prior to surgical treatment, it is important to differentiate the degree of intra-arterial stenosis. A decision to operate in a vascular occlusion which has not been definitively diagnosed entails an unnecessary risk for the patient and is a substantial cost factor.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether B-flow can improve the ultrasonographic diagnosis of the degree of intra-arterial carotid stenosis over Color-Coded Doppler Sonography (CCDS) and Power Doppler (PD) in comparison to Multidetector CT-angiography (MD-CTA).
Patients and Methods: Vascular ultrasonography and multislice CT angiography (MD-CTA) were performed in 25 patients in Cairo University (2012-2015) between 29 and 82 years of age with suspected intra-arterial stenosis who had been referred for CT angiography.
Results: Comparison between the measured grade of intra-arterial carotid stenosis using different sonographic modalities with grade of stenosis measured by CTA showed there was no significant difference between B-Flow and CTA results (p=0.289); and a significant difference when CCD and PD where used (p=0.00 and 0.01 respectively).
Conclusion: B-flow improves the diagnosed of intra-arterial stenosis compared to other ultrasound techniques, offering a more accurate depiction of the vessel lumen. The quantification of the degree of stenosis shows a very good correlation to MD-CTA. However, CCDS remains necessary to quantify flow velocities in order to determine haemodynamic relevance.