Deep doppler in the liver vasculature

Abstract

The widespread availability of duplex Doppler instruments that combine high-quality ultrasound imaging with spectral and color pulsed Doppler at ultrasonic frequencies suitable for abdominal scanning has brought several exciting new areas of clinical diagnosis into view. These include the assessment of blood flow in the vasculature of the liver and splanchnic veins in a variety of pathologic conditions. It has become apparent that there are numerous circumstances in which the addition of information related to blood flow can complement the role of conventional abdominal ultrasound imaging.1,2 The Doppler sonographer of the abdomen must therefore be capable of interpreting the Doppler spectrum under a relatively wide range of hemodynamic circumstances: it is perhaps because of the varied objectives of the Doppler technique in the abdomen that there are so few firm guidelines for its use. A critical appreciation of the basic principles and limitations of the Doppler method applied to the splanchnic circulation is an essential prerequisite for its successful clinical use. © 2007 Springer-Verlag London Limited.