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Principles of Flow Assessment

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Echocardiography

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Abstract

Hemodynamic science describes the physics and physiology of blood flow through the circulatory system, integrating the relationship of pressure, vascular resistance to flow, and volume flow rate in the cardiovascular system. Doppler echocardiography forms the basis of assessing hemodynamics and has replaced invasive cardiac catheterization for assessing hemodynamics for most clinical purposes. In this chapter, we discuss in great detail the Doppler principle, the hydraulic equation of flow, the continuity equation (law of conservation of mass), the proximal isovelocity surface area method, and the Bernoulli equation. In particular, we have focused on the clinical utility of these equations to assess various hemodynamics of the cardiovascular system, such as calculating the stroke volume, cardiac output, flows through the various cardiac valves, valve areas, regurgitant volumes, and cardiac shunts.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Ahmed A. Alsaileek

  2. Adult Cardiology/Cardiac Imaging, King Abdulaziz Cardiac Center, National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Ahmed A. Alsaileek

  3. St. Luke’s Medical Center, Aurora Cardiovascular Services, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Fatima Samad & A. Jamil Tajik

Authors
  1. Ahmed A. Alsaileek
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  2. Fatima Samad
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  3. A. Jamil Tajik
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London National Heart & Lung Institute, London, UK

    Petros Nihoyannopoulos

  2. Duke Heart Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Joseph Kisslo

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Alsaileek, A.A., Samad, F., Tajik, A.J. (2018). Principles of Flow Assessment. In: Nihoyannopoulos, P., Kisslo, J. (eds) Echocardiography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71617-6_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71617-6_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71615-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71617-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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