II. Definitions
- Peak Systolic Velocity (PSV)
- Doppler Ultrasound measurement of vessel flow
- Measures the tallest peaks (spikes of high flow) on waveform doppler
III. Indications
- Various uses in specialty, tertiary medicine
-
Cardiac Arrest
Resuscitation
- Evaluation of femoral artery PSV to determine if adequate perfusion in ROSC
IV. Techqnique
- Select pulse wave doppler on the Ultrasound machine
- Position the Ultrasound probe
- Place linear probe over vessel of interest, with the vessel in cross-section (transverse)
- Two line paths intersect (lines drawn automatically by machine)
- One vertical
- One at 60 degrees
- Once positioned, press the pulse wave doppler button
- Begins recording a tracing of vessel pressure with intermittent spikes
- Freeze the image
- Using Ultrasound measurements to select Velocity (or Vel)
- Select the tallest waveform/spike
- Velocity (cm/s) will be displayed on screen
V. Interpretation
- Peak Systolic Velocity >20 cm/s correlates with systolic Blood Pressure >=60 mmHg