Combined Measurement of Shear Stimulus and Flow-Mediated Dilation Through a Programmable Ultrasound System

Abstract

In Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) studies, brachial artery diameter changes due to reactive hyperaemia are typically measured through the analysis of high-resolution B-Mode images. The stimulus triggering the diameter change, i.e. the wall shear stress (WSS) increase occurring in early post-ischemic phase, is only qualitatively estimated by measuring a mean velocity and assuming parabolic velocity profiles. This paper describes an approach to simultaneously measure both wall shear stress (WSS) and diameter variations.