Detection of arterial defects by real-time ultrasound scanning during vascular surgery: An experimental study

Abstract

Real-time ultrasound B-mode scanning was used experimentally to detect vascular defects resembling those which might occur in arterial reconstructive surgery. The lesions established were arterial strictures, subintimal hematomas, intimal flaps, and thrombi attached to the arterial wall. All types of lesions were readily identified by direct contact ultrasonography. Ultrasonography was evaluated in terms of qualitative and quantitative assessment. Qualitatively, 68% of 1 × 5-mm flaps and 100% of all larger flaps were detected. There were no false positive ultrasound diagnoses in the interpretation of sonograms from normal arterial segments. Quantitatively, ultrasonic estimation of flap size correlated with actual flap dimensions with a coefficient of correlation of 0.84 ( P < 0.001). This study indicates that operative ultrasound to detect relatively small vascular defects at arterial operative sites is a feasible procedure which should be evaluated in clinical application.