Doppler measurement of myocardial thickening with a single epicardial transducer.

To eliminate the need for intramyocardial transducers in measuring regional left ventricular (LV) function we have developed a pulsed Doppler technique utilizing a single epicardial transducer. Wall thickening is evaluated by digitally integrating the velocity of myocardial layers passing through the sample volume located at a selected depth. Thickening fraction (TF) can then be estimated by dividing the systolic excursion by the sample volume depth. The Doppler method was compared with the transit-time method in three acute dogs by placing the 4-mm-diameter epicardial Doppler transducer over a 2-mm-diameter endocardial crystal tunneled through the LV wall. With the sample volume set to 1 mm less than the minimum LV thickness, simultaneous measurements of TF by the Doppler and transit-time methods showed good agreement (r = 0.95) during control, ischemia, volume overload, shock, and anoxia. In 28 chronically instrumented piglets signals were obtained for longer periods with Doppler transducers than with transit-time segment-length crystals. We conclude that the Doppler technique provides a high-fidelity wall thickening waveform and a good estimate of TF with minimal disturbance to the ventricle and that the technique is suitable for use in both acute and chronically instrumented animals.