Abstract
The goal of this study was to develop an objective method for evaluation of ovarian follicle wall blood flow in cattle. Two subjective methods were used: (I) real-time ultrasound evaluations performed by one operator in the barn and (II) video clip evaluations performed by four operators in the laboratory. The following objective methods evaluated in the laboratory were used for comparison: (I) percentage of follicle wall circumference under blood flow (WUF) and (II) pixel area of color-Doppler signals. Cows (n = 21) were submitted to a synchronization protocol, follicles ≥7 mm were measured, and blood flow was evaluated every 12 h until ovulation using color-Doppler ultrasonography. No difference (P > 0.05) was observed among laboratory operators from day 2 of training onwards. Therefore, an average score of all operators was used for comparisons among different methods. Both subjective and objective methods of evaluation showed an increase (P < 0.0001) in follicle blood flow over time. Higher (P < 0.001) correlations were obtained between WUF and subjective laboratory evaluation than between WUF and pixel area or WUF and subjective barn data. Higher (P < 0.0003) correlation coefficients were observed for WUF than for the pixel area when compared with the barn (r = 0.70 vs. r = 0.42) or laboratory (r = 0.84 vs. r = 0.62) data. Subjective evaluations at the laboratory and barn produced stronger correlations with WUF (P < 0.0008) than with pixel area (P < 0.01). In conclusion, WUF is an effective and reliable method for objective evaluation of follicle wall blood flow in cows.
Highlights
IntroductionSince the development of ultrasound machines with color-Doppler mode for use in human and veterinary medicine, several studies have been produced to elucidate the interactions between blood flow and function of organs (Blasco et al, 1975; Brannstorm et al, 1998; Bollwein et al, 2000; Acosta and Miyamoto, 2004; Acosta, 2007; Herzog and Bollwein, 2007; Adams et al, 2008; Viana et al, 2013)
No difference or interaction was observed among operators when follicle blood flow data was normalized to maximum diameter of the preovulatory follicle (Fig. 3A)
The establishment of a reliable gold standard test for evaluation of follicle wall blood flow will provide support and guidance to the results produced subjectively by any operator. This new objective technique might help in the near future with the development of a follicle blood flow evaluation software for color Doppler machines, where more precise measurements would generate reliable data of follicle vascularity in the field
Summary
Since the development of ultrasound machines with color-Doppler mode for use in human and veterinary medicine, several studies have been produced to elucidate the interactions between blood flow and function of organs (Blasco et al, 1975; Brannstorm et al, 1998; Bollwein et al, 2000; Acosta and Miyamoto, 2004; Acosta, 2007; Herzog and Bollwein, 2007; Adams et al, 2008; Viana et al, 2013). Three images with maximum blood flow are selected using a video-editing program, and pixel aggregates are selected, extracted, saved, and processed using a specific software to generate the area of the colored pixels and the pixel number (Miyazaki et al, 1998; Acosta et al, 2002, 2003; Ginther, 2007; Ginther et al, 2007a; Araujo and Ginther, 2009). This method of evaluation has been used as a gold standard test to compare results with subjective methods (Ginther and Utt, 2004; Ginther et al, 2007a). The second methodology involves the subjective evaluation (percentage or score system) of the vascular perfusion of a structure, based on the estimated proportion of the structure with color signals, according to the sonographer’s judgment (Bhal et al, 1999; Gastal et al, 2006; Ginther, 2007)
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