Basics of abdominal and pelvic duplex: instrumentation, anatomy, and vascular Doppler signatures.

The capabilities and limitations of color duplex sonography are briefly discussed in this article. Following this, basic Doppler and hemodynamic principles are reviewed, with emphasis on the concept of arterial pulsatility, as reflected in Doppler velocity waveforms. The bulk of the article is devoted to abdominal vascular anatomy and a review of the Doppler signatures that facilitate identification to abdominal vessels. This subject is complex, and an intimate command of abdominal vascular anatomy can only be achieved when detailed study is coupled with sonographic experience. It is hoped that the anatomic drawings and sonographic illustrations included in this work will assist the neophyte sonographer with the difficult task of mastering the anatomy and normal Doppler characteristics of abdominal vessels.