Vascular-Definitions

Front 1

Transducer

Back 1

Any device that changes energy from 1 form into another.

Front 2

Plaque

Back 2

Atherosclerotic material that builds up on the walls of arteries,causing most arterial problems.

Front 3

Lumen

Back 3

The space inside a vessel

Front 4

Residual Lumen

Back 4

The space inside the vessel that is left by plaque or clot.

Front 5

Stenosis

Back 5

Narrowing of a vessel, usually an artery, usually caused by atherosclerotic plaque.

Front 6

Bifurcation

Back 6

Point at which vessels divide, or branch.

Front 7

Collateral Circulation

Back 7

Alternate pathways of blood flow that become functional in the event of arterial or venous obstruction.

Front 8

Embolus

Back 8

An object traveling thru the circulation that may lodge in a vessel & cause occlusion.

Front 9

Hemodynamics

Back 9

The study of blood flow characteristics.

Front 10

Doppler Effect

Back 10

A shift in frequency caused by motion.

Front 11

Continuous-Wave (CW) Doppler

Back 11

An instrument that sends Doppler ultrasound waves out continuously with 1 crystal & receives the echoes continuously with another crystal

Front 12

Pulsed Doppler

Back 12

Doppler ultrasound sent out in discrete bursts, or pulses.

Front 13

Sample Volume

Back 13

The discrete area of flow assessed with pulsed Doppler.

Front 14

Doppler Angle

Back 14

The angle of the Doppler beam with respect to the direction of blood flow; also called angle of incidence

Front 15

Spectral Analysis

Back 15

The return Doppler signal broken down into the component frquency shifts & the amplitudes at those frequencies.

Front 16

Peak Systolic/End-Diastolic Frequencies or Velocities

Back 16

Common measurement of the spectral waveform.Peak systolic measurement is taken at the highest point of the waveform,while end-diastolic measurement is taken just prior to the systolic upstroke

Front 17

Color Flow Imaging

Back 17

A display of blood flow based(usually) on frequency shifts obtained from a large area instead of from just 1 sample volume, as w/ spectral Doppler

Front 18

Gain

Back 18

Control on the scanner that allows you to increase the strength of the return signal being displayed on either the image or the spectral analysis

Front 19

Suboptimal

Back 19

Usually means "crummy." Can be due to pt. moving around or postoperative edema, which you cannot help if you do not get the best quality images.

Front 20

Within Normal Limits (WNL)

Back 20

By just saying "normal" that may have implications that are broader than you want.

Front 21

Essentially

Back 21

Useful term,especially when used w/ WNL. Even w/ a pt. that had postoperative edema, can say that their Doppler study was "essentially" WNL.

Front 22

Internal Thickening

Back 22

Minimal soft plaque along the wall.

Front 23

Fatty Streak

Back 23

Minimal soft plaque along the wall.

Front 24

Circumferential

Back 24

Around the entire circumference of the vessel, as opposed to plaque which lies on 1 side of the wall.

Front 25

Extensive

Back 25

Plaque along a lengthy segment of the artery.

Front 26

Scattered, Diffuse

Back 26

Plaque found at several levels in the artery

Front 27

Laminar

Back 27

Nonturbulent flow

Front 28

Antegrade vs. Retrograde

Back 28

Flow in the expected direction vs. flow in the opposite direction.

Front 29

Aliasing

Back 29

The wrapping-around of the spectral waveform that can result from high-velocity blodd flow.When the frequency shifts exceed the Nyquist limit,the scanner displays the higher frequencies as coming up from below the baseline or coming down from the top fo the display.

Front 30

Compatible with

Back 30

Useful phrase which allows you to suggest an impression w/out being more definite than you should be.(ex.:These markedly peak systolic & end-diastolic velocities,& complete window-filling,are "compatible with" greater than 80% stenosis.