Abstract
Doppler ultrasound is applied towards the detection and diagnosis of blood vessel disorders and disease. Through the comparison of three readily available Doppler systems, a difference in the sensitivity between the systems was observed and used to determine if a new standard should be implemented to guarantee that each commercially available Doppler system reaches a minimum degree of sensitivity before commercialization. The three Doppler systems tested all included a Doppler device and pencil probe. The angle of the probe relative to the blood vessel, flow of blood through the vessel, gel used as an ultrasound coupling medium, and simulated blood (22% hematocrit) were all held constant throughout the experiment. The distance from directly on top of the blood vessel to the most proximal point at which the Doppler system detected a maximum signal-to-noise ratio of 2:1 was recorded for a total of 10 trials. Normal distributions of the distances found in the 10 trials for each Doppler system were created and a one-way ANOVA test was conducted from these distributions. The ANOVA test resulted in a p-value of 1.176E-10, proving a significant difference in the sensitivity between Doppler systems. Clinical use of Doppler systems that lack sensitivity may result in misdiagnosis or a false negative. Therefore, a significant difference in the sensitivity between systems suggests that a standard should be implemented to ensure that all Doppler systems operate with a minimum degree of sensitivity.
