Transverse oscillation vector flow imaging for transthoracic echocardiography

This work presents the development and first results of in vivo transthoracic cardiac imaging using an implementation of Vector Flow Imaging (VFI) via the Transverse Oscillation (TO) method on a phased-array transducer. Optimal selection of the lateral wavelength of the transversely-oscillating receive field is described, and results from Field II simulations are presented. Measurements are made using the SARUS experimental ultrasound scanner driving an intercostal phased-array probe. The acquisition sequence was composed of interleaved frames of 68-line B-mode and 17-direction, 32-shot vector velocity flow images. A flow pump was programmed for constant flow for in vitro acquisitions at varying depths in a tissue-mimicking fluid. Additionally, mitral, aortic, and tricuspid valves of two healthy volunteers were scanned from intercostal acoustic windows. The acquired RF data were beam-formed via the TO method, and fourth-order estimators were employed for the velocity estimation. The resulting images were compared with those from conventional spectral Doppler and color flow mapping sequences. VFI is shown to be a clinically-feasible tool, which enables new flexibility for choosing acoustic windows, visualizing turbulent flow patterns, and measuring velocities.