Upper limb vascular mapping with Doppler ultrasound: Technique precision evaluated in healthy volunteers.

INTRODUCTION: Doppler ultrasound is recommended by international societies for preoperative vascular mapping in vascular access surgery. Literature is scarce regarding data on Doppler ultrasound-associated errors.
OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to evaluate Doppler ultrasound precision for upper limb vascular mapping.
METHODS: Fifty-two adult healthy volunteers were evaluated for superficial vein diameter, brachial artery flow and diameter in the lower third of non-dominant arm by a dedicated vascular access radiologist blinded for the identification of the participants. Each participant was scheduled for three evaluations one week apart. Friedman test and multivariate analysis of variance for repeated measures were used.
RESULTS: There were no statistical differences within subjects across the three weeks except for brachial artery flow in participants who had basilic vein as the dominant vein. DISCUSSION: Repeated anatomical and haemodynamic parameters measured by Doppler ultrasound performed by an experienced medical sonographer, according to our protocol, did not show statistical differences within subjects, independently of age, gender and body mass index. © The British Medical Ultrasound Society 2019.