(CDI) Color Doppler imaging depicts the mean frequency shifts of the Doppler signal. Color [colour, Brit.] Doppler imaging is a method for visualizing direction and velocity of movement, such as of blood flow within the cardiac chambers or blood vessels. The flow direction and velocity information gathered by Doppler ultrasonography is color coded onto a gray scale cross-sectional image. The sensitivity of Doppler ultrasound is increased in conjunction with the use of vascular contrast agents.
Direction and blood flow velocity are coded as colors and shades:
Red - flow coming nearer to the probe.
Blue - flow coming away of the probe.

See also Bi-directional Illumination, Color Map.

(CPA) Color power angio is a Doppler measurement, which employs the Doppler effect to assess whether blood is moving towards or away from the probe. By calculating the frequency shift of a particular sample volume, its speed and direction can be determined and visualized. This is particularly useful in cardiovascular studies and essential in many areas such as determining reverse blood flow in the liver vasculature in portal hypertension. The CPA information is displayed as a color image superimposed on the 2D gray scale image.

See also Color Power Doppler.

The color priority determines which signal of B-mode and Doppler, detected from the same location will be displayed in a given pixel. Low color priorities will allow solid tissue to conceal Doppler shifts at the same location; a high priority ensures that color will overwrite the gray scale image.
Also called color-echo write priority or angio write priority.

See also Directional Indicators.

Compress is a signal processing control on some ultrasound systems that affects the gray scale and overall gain.

Duplex ultrasonography (duplex scan) consists of two ultrasound modalities to study blood flow and the perivascular tissue. This includes B-mode / gray scale imaging used in combination with spectral Doppler / pulsed-wave Doppler.
The real-time visualization of the vessels and tissue by the B-mode component improves the PW Doppler positioning and the direction of blood flow can be inferred. The angle between the direction of the PW Doppler signal and the estimated direction of blood flow can be measured.
Duplex techniques are available on phased array, linear array, and mechanical scanners. A phased array probe is able to create nearly simultaneous images and flow information. A linear array transducer can also do this if the Doppler probe is attached separately to one end of the scanhead. A mechanical transducer freeze the image; the crystals must be static to produce a Doppler image. The first two transducers are therefore the best choice for Duplex.

See also Compound B-Mode, and Duplex Scanner.