Laterally-Dependent Velocity Estimation Bias in Plane-Wave Doppler Ultrasound

Doppler ultrasound has become a standard method used to diagnose, grade and monitor vascular diseases and their progression. Ultrafast plane-wave Doppler enables rapid simultaneous B-mode, color and spectral Doppler measurements across large fields of view. However, plane-wave imaging can lead to a substantial laterally-dependent bias in the velocity estimation. Here, we investigate this bias quantitatively both by numeral simulations and phantom experiments. We demonstrate that this velocity bias is caused by asymmetrical geometric spectral broadening and derive a correction algorithm.