Medical ultrasound is widely used to image blood flow. For instance, the estimation of blood flow velocities plays a key role in diagnosing carotid artery stenosis.
However, blood velocity estimates using conventional color flow imaging (CFI) or Doppler techniques are angle dependent. This poses a huge challenge for quantitatively measuring the magnitude (and direction) of the blood’s velocity.
The Transverse Oscillation (TO) method by Jensen and Munk remedies this fact and has shown intriguing in-vivo results of blood flow vector velocities in superficial vessels using linear arrays. It is also the technique closest to a commercial breakthrough.
However, the current implementation of the technique limits scan depth and prevents imaging of deeper lying vessels and organs, e.g. the heart and liver. Currently, the method is being expanded to a phased array for potential cardiac imaging.
Research within this area is performed by PhD students Ye Li and Michael Johannes Pihl.