A first approach to the registration error assessment in Quality Controls of Color Doppler ultrasound diagnostic systems

Color Doppler Imaging (CDI) is widely used in diagnostic imaging, although the Quality Control procedures for Doppler testing have not been standardized yet. Therefore, in the present study, a novel parameter, called Doppler Image Registration Error (DIRE), for the quantification of the color flow superimposition in duplex imaging of CDI diagnostic systems has been proposed. According to the deffnition, the registration error is expected to be 0% when no colored pixels associated to the flow are outside the flow region, its estimation has been carried out through a novel semi-automatic method based on the postprocessing of ultrasound (US) images from a flow phantom tube. Two new US diagnostic systems, equipped with a linear array probe each, have been used to collect data at different settings. Based on the promising outcomes, further studies are going to be carried out, mainly to make the results independent on the operator subjectivity.