Patent ID: 6905469

Claim:
A method for improving the accuracy with which the speed of blood flowing in the aorta is measured by means of a signal emitted by a Doppler transducer, the method comprising inserting a Doppler effect intracorporeal probe into the esophagous of a subject, wherein: (a) a Doppler transducer is incorporated or integrated in the Doppler effect intracorporeal probe, the Doppler transducer is mounted on the probe to emit an ultrasound beam at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the probe, and the probe comprises a programmable memory; (b) the Doppler transducer is associated with the programmable memory, wherein the programmable memory contains at least one signal correction data item for correcting the Doppler signal transmitted by the transducer to a transducer control and computer unit; and (c) the computer unit incorporates the signal correction data item in computing each speed measurement on the basis of each signal emitted by the Doppler transducer, and computes the speed value taking account of the signal correction data item so as to provide a corrected measurement of the speed of the blood, thereby improving the accuracy of the measurement.