Feasibility study on carbonated water for Doppler imaging in medical ultrasonic applications

Abstract

A medium other than the blood-mimicking fluid generally used for a Doppler ultrasound that allows the appearance of blood-like responses in ultrasound images is investigated in this study. To create the media used in this study, sugar, salt, and starch (1 g each) were diluted in 50 cc of water, and along with distilled water, cooking oil, and carbonated water (50 cc each) without dilution, were then individually added into six latex balloons. A water tank of 18 (W) × 30 (L) × 10 (H) cm3 was filled with water, and all six balloons containing a prepared fluid were fixed three each on opposite walls of the tank 3 cm below the water surface. To obtain a proper Doppler ultrasound, the gain was set to 54, 60, and 66, and the color Doppler was measured. A qualitative evaluation was conducted through blind tests by 15 radiologists, and the coefficient of variation (COV), natural image quality evaluator (NIQE), and blind/referenceless image spatial quality evaluator (BRISQUE) were used for a quantitative evaluation. In the evaluations, carbonated water was evaluated as achieving a clear flow (p < 0.05) and a high value in all cases with a change in gain. This study investigated the Doppler sensitivity using sugar water, salt water, starch, cooking oil, distilled water, and carbonated water, and confirmed that carbonated water achieves the highest Doppler sensitivity. The results of this study can be utilized as basic data in various future studies on Doppler sensitivity using carbonated water.