Automated estimation of regurgitant volume and effective orifice area from color Doppler echocardiography

Color Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of valve regurgitation could be improved using a quantitative approach. While techniques have been proposed and utilized in research, their limitations restrict widespread clinical utilization. We have developed an approach to address several of these limitations and have tested the methodology in an in vitro model with flow through restrictive orifices under a wide range of operating conditions. Doppler images of flow velocities along the centerline path through the orifice were digitally acquired and processed to extract the distance (IAD) between aliasing boundaries proximal to the orifice. Flow rate and effective orifice area were computed from each IAD and compared to reference measurements. Calculated e (y=1.07x-22.8, r=0.97) and EOA (y=1.09x-0.03, r=0.98) demonstrated strong agreement with reference measurements. The IAD technique may improve the estimation of regurgitant volume and effective orifice area.