Doppler ultrasonography

In medicine and diagnostic imaging, Doppler ultrasonography is "ultrasonography applying the Doppler effect, with frequency-shifted ultrasound reflections produced by moving targets (usually red blood cells) in the bloodstream along the ultrasound axis in direct proportion to the velocity of movement of the targets, to determine both direction and velocity of blood flow."

Variations include:

• Pulsed Doppler ultrasonography allows hearing the presence movement and is "ultrasonography applying the Doppler effect, with velocity detection combined with range discrimination. Short bursts of ultrasound are transmitted at regular intervals and the echoes are demodulated as they return."
• Duplex Doppler ultrasonography allows imaging and measuring movement and is "ultrasonography applying the Doppler effect combined with real-time imaging. The real-time image is created by rapid movement of the ultrasound beam. A powerful advantage of this technique is the ability to estimate the velocity of flow from the Doppler shift frequency."
• Color Doppler ultrasonography allows mapping of movement and is "ultrasonography applying the Doppler effect, with the superposition of flow information as colors on a gray scale in a real-time image. This type of ultrasonography is well-suited to identifying the location of high-velocity flow (such as in a stenosis) or of mapping the extent of flow in a certain region."