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Fluid mechanics of arterial stenosis: Relationship to the development of mural thrombus

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Abstract

In this study, we analyzed blood flow through a model stenosis with Reynolds numbers ranging from 300 to 3,600 using both experimental and numerical methods. The jet produced at the throat was turbulent, leading to an axisymmetric region of slowly recirculating flow. For higher Reynolds numbers, this region became more disturbed and its length was reduced. The numerical predictions were confirmed by digital particle image velocimetry and used to describe the fluid dynamics mechanisms relevant to prior measurements of platelet deposition in canine blood flow (R.T. Schoephoersteret al., Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis 12:1806–1813, 1993). Actual deposition onto the wall was dependent on the wall shear stress distribution along the stenosis, increasing in areas of flow recirculation and reattachment. Platelet activation potential was analyzed under laminar and turbulent flow conditions in terms of the cumulative effect of the varying shear and elongational stresses, and the duration platelets are exposed to them along individual platelet paths. The cumulative product of shear rate and exposure time along a platelet path reached a value of 500, half the value needed for platelet activation under constant shear (J. M. Ramstacket al., Journal of Biomechanics 12: 113–125, 1979).

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Author notes

  1. Danny Bluestein

    Present address: Program in Biomedical Engineering, SUNY-Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York

  2. Mrinal K. Dewanjee

    Present address: Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Urbana, IL

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL

    Mrinal K. Dewanjee

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Florida International University, 33199, Miami, FL, U.S.A.

    Danny Bluestein, Lijun Niu & Richard T. Schoephoerster

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  1. Danny Bluestein
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  2. Lijun Niu
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  3. Richard T. Schoephoerster
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  4. Mrinal K. Dewanjee
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Bluestein, D., Niu, L., Schoephoerster, R.T. et al. Fluid mechanics of arterial stenosis: Relationship to the development of mural thrombus. Ann Biomed Eng 25, 344–356 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02648048

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02648048

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