Function and Safety of SlowflowHD Ultrasound Doppler in Obstetrics

SlowflowHD, a recent ultrasound Doppler imaging technology, permits evaluating flow even in tiny blood vessels. a proprietary algorithm separates low-speed flow from the signals due to tissue motion, facilitating the visualization of the microvessel vasculature. 

A recent study illustrated the low-velocity Doppler mode principles, assessed its bone thermal index (TIb) safety parameter in obstetric ultrasound scans and also evaluated its adherence to professional guidelines. 

The prospectively collected ultrasound images and video clips from pregnancy ultrasound scans at >10 wk of gestation were retrospectively reviewed over 4 months. All images and video clips were recognized using a custom-built optical character recognition-based software that automatically extracted the TIb. 

• In all, 185 ultrasound scans were included.
• 60scans belonged to the first trimester, 54 to the second while 71 were of the third trimester.
• The mean TIb values were found to be 0.32 in the first, 0.23 in the second and 0.32 in the third trimester. 
• Thermal index values were found to be within recommended values described by the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and British Medical Ultrasound Society in all cases.

SOURCE- Drukker L, Droste R, Ioannou C et al. Function and Safety of SlowflowHD Ultrasound Doppler in Obstetrics. Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, 2022;48(6):1157-1162. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2022.02.012