INFLUENCE OF THE COANDA EFFECT ON COLOR DOPPLER JET AREA AND COLOR ENCODING - INVITRO STUDIES USING COLOR DOPPLER FLOW MAPPING

We studied surface adherence and its effects on color Doppler jet areas and color encoding in an in vitro model with a noncompliant receiving chamber into which a steady flow jet was directed parallel to either a straight or a curved surface adjacent to and 4 mm away from the inflow orifice (1.50 mm2) with the control condition being a free jet matched for flow rates and driving pressures. Jets were imaged perpendicular to the plane of the surface, the plane in which most clinical images of jet-surface interactions are obtained. Ten different flow rates ranging from 0.13 to 0.30 l/min were used. Surface-adherent jet areas were smaller than control jets for every driving pressure-volume combination (paired t test, p < 0.01). Computer analysis of color Doppler images showed more green and blue (reverse flow) pixels on the surface side of the adherent jets than the control jets (p < 0.05), suggesting that viscous energy loss and flow deceleration and reversal play a role in the jet-surface interaction. Analysis of variance demonstrated that linear regression slopes of flow rate versus jet area for surface jets were lower (slopes, 11-21 cm2/l/min; r = 0.95-0.97) than those for the control (slope, 33 cm2/l/min; r = 0.97) (p < 0.0001). Surface adherence (Coanda effect) influences jet size and color encoding, causing smaller color Doppler jet areas and greater variance and reverse velocity encoding.