Doppler Overview

Features and benefits.

The success of a free flap—and the ability to salvage a flap, if necessary—depends on the sensitivity and accuracy of your monitoring. The Doppler Blood Flow Monitoring System is an evidence-backed technology that boosts your monitoring capability in three ways:

More placement options

Monitor arteries and/or veins, end to end or end to side, proximal or distal to the anastomosis.

Access to buried flaps

Monitor buried flaps—including flaps in challenging anatomical locations that are difficult to evaluate clinically—and potentially
detect flap compromise earlier.¹ In specialties such as head and neck surgery, where buried flaps are common, the salvage rates with the Doppler system can be more than double that of conventional monitoring.²

Proven performance

Over twenty years of clinical evidence have established the Doppler Blood Flow Monitoring System as a trusted complement to clinical monitoring that can contribute to more favorable outcomes:

1. Frost MW, Niumsawatt V, Rozen WM, et al. Direct comparison of postoperative monitoring of free flaps with microdialysis, implantable Cook-Swartz Doppler probe, and clinical monitoring in 20 consecutive patients. Microsurgery. 2015;35(4):262–271.
2. Schmulder A, Gur E, Zaretski A. Eight-year experience of the Cook-Swartz Doppler in free-flap operations: microsurgical and reexploration results with regard to a wide spectrum of surgeries. Microsurgery. 2011;31(1):1–6.
3. Chang TY, Lee YC, Lin YC, et al. Implantable Doppler probes for postoperatively monitoring free flaps: efficacy. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2016;4(11):e1099.
4. Wax MK. The role of the implantable Doppler probe in free flap surgery. Laryngoscope. 2014;124(suppl 1):S1–S12.