Non-invasive visualization of intracardiac blood flow in human heart using computer-aided pulsed Doppler technique

Intracardiac blood flow dynamics was visualized by a newly developed pulsed Doppler flowmeter combined with an electronic phased-array echocardiograph, which allowed to locate sample sites precisely in the heart and great vessels. Intracardiac blood flow revealed a specific flow pattern to each sample portion and particularly a laminar mode in outflow and inflow tract of the left ventiricle in healthy subjects. In the mitral regurgitations observed was the systolic regurgitant flow into the left atrium, while the diastolic regurgitant flow in the left ve.ntricular outflow tract was observed in the aortic regurgitation. The present study indicates that the pulsed Doppler technique is effective in noninvasively analyzing the intracardiac flow dynamics in human hearts.