Semi-automated analysis of coronary flow Doppler images: validation with manual tracings.

Coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) is conventionally obtained by manual tracings of Doppler profiles, as ratio of stress vs baseline diastolic peak velocity. When <1.9, this parameter evidences reduced coronary flow and possible microcirculatory disease. Our goals were: 1) to develop a novel technique for semi-automated detection of Doppler flow velocity profile, allowing the automated computation of CFVR and other parameters; 2) to validate this technique in comparison with conventional measurements obtained by manual tracing; 3) to test for differences between normal (N) subjects and patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Linear correlation and Bland-Altman analyses showed that the proposed method was highly accurate and repeatable compared to the manual measurements. Comparison between N and RA groups evidenced significant differences in some of the automated parameters.