Doppler Ultrasound, Holter Monitor, and Ligation and StrippingCreated by: Brooke Markward

Doppler Ultrasound

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Doppler Ultrasound• Doppler ultrasonography-The measure of

sounds waves as they bounce off of bodily tissues and organs and produces an image of these tissues and organs.

• Measures the velocity of the blood that is flowing through the vessels. Aids in looking for blood clots or thromboses in the veins.

• This procedure is popular because it is non-invasive so it does not cause pain and it does not expose the person’s body to x-rays.

Doppler Ultrasound

• Let’s say we want to look at certain tissue. During an ultrasound, a high-frequency sound is produced and aimed at the tissue. The tissue will reflect the sound back to the instrument that originally released it.

• Doppler means that the sound pitch increases when the tissue is closer to the instrument, and the sound pitch decreases as it moves further away.

Doppler Ultrasound• A transducer, or probe, contains piezoelectric

crystals. These make electric pulses when the returning sound causes them to vibrate.

• The probe sends short sound pulses into the body, toward the tissue and pauses until it receives a returning sound.

• The machine will figure out where and how deep the sound traveled to and from.

• The machine then will convert the sounds into images on a television monitor.

• Thousands of pulses are computed every second, allowing the doctor to see the organ functioning.

Doppler Ultrasound

• To help the probe move more easily over the skin, the technician will apply a gel to the skin.

• The goal is to find that the blood is flowing normally. However, if the blood flow is found to be obstructed in the neck arteries, the person may be at risk of having a stroke.

Holter Monitor

Holter Monitor

• Also called an ambulatory electrocardiography device.

• A holter monitor is a portable ECG (electrocardiography) monitor, so it monitors the electrical activity of the heart.

Holter Monitor

• Patients wear this to monitor their heart during their daily activities for a few hours or a few days.

• Usually for patients who have had unusual heart activity.

Holter Monitor

• The monitor is a device attached to the belt of the patient. It has 3-8 electrodes that are connected to it. These electrodes are attached to the chest.

• Through electrodes, the monitor records electrical activity of the heart.

Ligation and Stripping

• Also called phlebectomy

• Ligation and stripping is a surgical treatment for varicose veins.

• Varicose veins are enlarged veins that are blue or dark purple. They appear to bulge out of the surface of the skin and are mostly found on the back of the calves.

Ligation and Stripping• The word ligation refers

to surgically tying off the greater saphenous vein, which is located in the leg.

• Stripping is the removal of the greater saphenous vein by making incisions in the groin area or behind the knee.

Ligation and Stripping

• Both of these are not performed to improve the condition.

• If some of the valves of the vein are still healthy, then only the weak ones will be ligated. If the whole vein is weak, then it will be ligated and pulled out through and incision.

Ligation and Stripping

• The purpose of this procedure is to decrease the pressure of the blood that is flowing back in the greater saphenous vein and into the smaller veins that flow into it.

Ligation and Stripping

• More reasons to have this done is to improve the appearance of the leg, and relieve pain and fatigue.