Abstract: A blood pool imaging and analysis technique and apparatus uses ultrasound to examine areas of interest within the human body. The Doppler effect is used to determine the velocity of blood and tissue movement. Color flow imaging is used to display the moving blood pools and tissue by representing movement toward the transducer as one color, movement away from the transducer as a second color and movement which is outside of the sampling limits as a third color. Since the blood pool movement generally exceeds the rate at which the heart or organ walls move in creating the blood movement, the sampling limits can be adjusted so that the blood pool movement is outside of the limits. The resulting image of the blood pool movement, in the third color, can be used to calculate heart function parameters such as the ejection fraction.

Abstract: Heart performance is evaluated by collecting ultrasound images of at least one chamber of the heart of a patient after peak exercise. The images are subsequently displayed and analyzed to determine the presence and degree of heart disease, such as coronary artery disease (CAD). Collecting the images is done continuously at a rate of at least eight images per heart beat synchronized to a predetermined point in each heart beat over a time period which is normally sufficient to capture ischemic events resulting from the peak exercise. Each image thus synchronized represents a similar condition of each heart beat, thereby facilitating accurate comparisons. Collecting of images can be interrupted to eliminate blank or obscured images while the ultrasound sensor is repositioned. The collected images can be displayed and subsequently analyzed to determine the presence and degree of heart disease by comparing the images from successive heart beats.

Abstract: A blood pool imaging and analysis technique and apparatus uses ultrasound to examine areas of interest within the human body. The Doppler effect is used to determine the velocity of blood and tissue movement. Color flow imaging is used to display the moving blood pools and tissue by representing movement toward the transducer as one color, movement away from the transducer as a second color and movement which is outside of the sampling limits as a third color. Since the blood pool movement generally exceeds the rate at which the heart or organ walls move in creating the blood movement, the sampling limits can be adjusted so that the blood pool movement is outside of the limits. The resulting image of the blood pool movement, in the third color, can be used to calculate heart function parameters such as the ejection fraction.