Novel Ultrasound Dual Array Method for Precise Blood Flow Measurement

Blood flow volume (BFV) is a fundamental indicator of cardiovascular (CV) health, reflecting the dynamic state of the circulatory system and the heart's ability to perfuse tissues effectively. In critical care settings, such as intensive care units, continuous and accurate monitoring of BFV is essential for early detection of hemodynamic instability and prevention of adverse cardiovascular events, including hypotension, organ hypoperfusion, and cardiac arrest.This work introduces a novel dual-array ultrasound approach to measure BFV by using two cross-sectional views to extract the Doppler angle, flow velocities, and vessel area. The proposed solution allows for an operator-free and accurate estimation of the Doppler angle and therefore it is truly suitable to be integrated into wearable applications.The system was tested by exploiting the ULA-OP 256 open platform, connected to two 7.5-MHz linear arrays. Experimental validation was conducted on an 8-mm diameter vessel within a flow phantom, with flow controlled by a programmable peristaltic pump and monitored via a flow sensor. The estimated BFV showed good agreement with reference values, showing an average underestimation of 3.8%. Furthermore, the best-fit linear regression yielded an angular coefficient of 1.09 and a coefficient of determination R<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> of 0.98, confirming the method’s good performance.