Each scan begins like this; as seen in this gray scale image
below.
Large
amounts of plaque immediately suggest a problem. Within a very few minutes we can identify your risk.
Grayscale B-mode Image of Calcific Plaque
Significant Disease without Symptoms
This image displays all the subtle shades of
gray with no color being assigned to any of the structures. Detail regarding the extent and contour of the plaque on the vessel
wall can be appreciated more clearly before introducing pulsating color.
Compare
the surface irregularities seen at the edges of this plaque with the smooth edges along the solid color flow image. The impact that this irregular plaque has on the blood flow and the colors that are displayed are quite evident
and easily recognized during an ultrasound scan.
If this image represents the first time you have been
examined with ultrasound, you are fortunate indeed. As long as the vessel displays flow, options to intervene and correct
a serious health problem exist.
We have had the exciting privilege to identify
individuals with this mosaic color flow pattern during a quick screening.
It
is our desire to establish a normal baseline in all healthy and active patients
especially when risk factors are stacked against
them.
Color Doppler with Laminar Flow
Minimal Plaque on Vessel Walls
This image displays the monochromatic (one color) pattern that is routinely seen in healthy people. The mid portion
of the CCA (common carotid artery) is quite often viewed in this fashion. Notice how the vessel walls are only slightly thickened
and can be seen as the gray boundary along the smooth laminar blood flow. The level of disease seen here would be interpreted
as clinically insignificant. Imagine water sheeting down a driveway during a rainstorm.
This fluid dynamic in the circulation is referred to as laminar flow. Just as the water is rolling down the smooth surface
of the driveway – in this particular medical image, the blood is rolling along the smooth surfaced walls of the
vessel.
As we provide this immediate diagnostic window with a quick ultrasound scan we are able to cheat disaster.
Power Color Flow
Irregularity in Blood Vessel Wall Reduces Flow
Mosaic Color Flow through a Stenosis
'Hourglass Constriction' of Blood Vessel
In this frame, you can see how
the plaque affects the blood flow as it interferes with the smooth rolling flow action depicted in other images with one color.
Like water tumbling over pebbles in a brook is how the blood tumbles over the irregular margins of the plaque as seen in this
image.
Instead of a solid color flow
image the hemodynamics takes on a “mosaic” pattern to suggest the multi-colored quality found in classic artwork.
The more variety and intensity of colors being displayed correlates to a tighter opening that remains in the vessel –
called a stenosis.
As a thumb bearing
down on a garden hose creates a stenosis with faster and faster water flow – so does the plaque (thumb) creating faster
and faster blood flow in the vessel (hose).
This is a different color map to display all
moving blood cells regardless of each cell's direction. The Power Doppler Color Flow image highlights where the
blood is flowing. In this frame it flows around the plaque that is seen attached to the far wall of the vessel.
The blood passes from the heart into the common carotid artery (CCA) and into the two main branches: the
internal (ICA) and external (ECA) carotid artery. The ICA delivers blood to the brain and the ECA to the face.
You will notice the CCA is on the right side of
the frame and the ICA and ECA on the left. The smaller vessel branching away is one of the thyro-cervical branches from the
ECA.
To remove
the threat of a devastating stroke from someone who had
no symptoms
- is priceless.
Baseline Medical, PLLC
mailing address
258 North West End Boulevard #125 Quakertown, PA 18951
