Signal losses with real-time three-dimensional power Doppler imaging.

Power Doppler imaging (PDI) has been shown to be influenced by the wall filter when assessing arterial stenoses. Real-time 3-D Doppler imaging may likely become a widespread practice in the near future, but how the wall filter could affect PDI during the cardiac cycle has not been investigated. The objective of the study was to demonstrate that the wall filter may produce unexpected major signal losses in real-time 3-D PDI. To test our hypothesis, we first validated binary images obtained from analytical simulations with in vitro PDI acquisitions performed in a tube under pulsatile flow conditions. We then simulated PDI images in the presence of a severe stenosis, considering physiological conditions by finite element modeling. Power Doppler imaging simulations revealed important signal losses within the lumen area at different instants of the flow cycle, and there was a very good concordance between measured and predicted PDI binary images in the tube. Our results show that the wall filter may induce severe PDI signal losses that could negatively influence the assessment of vascular stenosis. Clinicians should therefore be aware of this cause of signal loss to properly interpret power Doppler angiographic images.