Methods and systems for measuring cardiac output

An ultrasound imaging system for measuring a cardiac output comprising:

• an ultrasound probe configured to acquire ultrasound imaging data and Doppler data of a patient;
• a memory configured to store programmed instructions;
• and
• one or more processors configured to execute the programmed instructions stored in the memory, wherein the one or more processors when executing the programmed instructions perform the following operations:
• generate an ultrasound image based on the ultrasound imaging data;
• designate a region of interest (ROI) corresponding to a left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) within the ultrasound image;
• acquire plural spectral data sets for corresponding spectral waveforms for corresponding plural candidate Doppler gates within the ROI based on the Doppler data;
• identify a select Doppler gate from the plural candidate Doppler gates based on a characteristic of the spectral waveforms by comparing each of the spectral waveforms of each of the plural candidate Doppler gates with every other spectral waveform of every other candidate Doppler gate within the ROI, wherein a position of the identified select Doppler gate is configured to be displayed within the ROI within the ultrasound image;
• and
• calculate a cardiac output of the patient based on the select Doppler gate.

A tangible and non-transitory computer readable medium comprising one or more computer software modules configured to direct one or more processors to:

• generate an ultrasound image based on ultrasound imaging data of a patient acquired by an ultrasound probe;
• automatically designate a region of interest (ROI) corresponding to a left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) within the ultrasound image;
• acquire plural spectral data sets for corresponding spectral waveforms for corresponding plural candidate Doppler gates within the ROI based on Doppler data acquired by the ultrasound probe;
• automatically identify a select Doppler gate from the plural candidate Doppler gates based on a characteristic of the spectral waveforms by comparing each of the spectral waveforms of each of the plural candidate Doppler gates with every other spectral waveform of every other candidate Doppler gate within the ROI;
• and
• calculate a cardiac output of the patient based on the select Doppler gate.