3-D Intraventricular Vector Flow Mapping Using Triplane Doppler Echo

Abstract

We generalized and improved our clinical technique of two-dimensional intraventricular vector flow mapping (2D-iVFM) for a full-volume three-component analysis of the intraventricular blood flow (3D-iVFM). While 2D-iVFM uses three-chamber color Doppler images, 3D-iVFM is based on the clinical mode of triplane color Doppler echocardiography. As in the previous two-dimensional version, 3D-iVFM relies on mass conservation and free-slip endocardial boundary conditions. For sake of robustness, the optimization problem was written as a constrained least-squares problem. We tested and validated 3D-iVFM in silico through a patient-specific heart-flow CFD (computational fluid dynamics) model, as well as in vivo in one healthy volunteer. The intraventricular vortex that forms during left ventricular filling was deciphered. After further validation, 3D-iVFM could offer clinically compatible 3-D echocardiographic insights into left intraventricular hemodynamics.KeywordsUltrasound imagingTriplane doppler echo3-D vector flow imagingFull-volume intracardiac blood flow