Doppler ultrasound
Doppler Ultrasound
Doppler ultrasound (pronounced: dawp-ler ul-truh-sound) is a non-invasive test that can be used to estimate the blood flow through your blood vessels by bouncing high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound) off circulating red blood cells.
Etymology
The term "Doppler" refers to the Doppler effect, named after the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who proposed it in 1842. The term "ultrasound" is derived from the Latin words "ultra", meaning beyond, and "sound".
Procedure
A regular ultrasound uses sound waves to produce images, but can't show blood flow. A Doppler ultrasound may help diagnose many conditions, including blood clots, poor circulation, or blockages in the arteries.
During the procedure, a handheld device called a transducer is passed lightly over the skin above a blood vessel. The transducer sends and receives sound waves that are amplified through a microphone. The sound waves bounce off solid objects, including blood cells. The movement of blood cells causes a change in pitch of the reflected sound waves, called the Doppler effect. A computer collects and processes the sounds and creates graphs or color pictures that represent the flow of blood through the blood vessels.
Related Terms
- Ultrasound: A test that uses high-frequency sound waves to capture live images from the inside of your body.
- Doppler effect: An increase (or decrease) in the frequency of sound, light, or other waves as the source and observer move towards (or away from) each other.
- Blood flow: The continuous circulation of blood in the cardiovascular system.
- Blood vessels: The channels through which the blood is distributed to the body tissues.
See Also
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Doppler ultrasound
- Wikipedia's article - Doppler ultrasound
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