Ultrasonic observation of blood disturbance in a stenosed tube: effects of flow acceleration and turbulence downstream

Red blood cell (RBC) aggregation is known to be highly dependent on hemodynamic parameters such as shear rate, flow turbulence and flow acceleration under pulsatile flow. The effects of all three hemodynamic parameters on RBC aggregation and echogenicity of porcine whole blood were investigated downstream of an eccentric stenosis in a mock flow loop using B-mode images with Doppler spectrograms of a commercial ultrasonic system. A hyperechoic parabolic profile appeared downstream during flow acceleration, yielding another piece of evidence suggesting that the enhancement of rouleaux formation may be caused by flow acceleration. It was also found that echogenicity increased locally at a distance of three tube diameters downstream from the stenosis. The local increase of echogenicity is thought to be mainly due to flow turbulence. The hypoechoic "black hole" was also seen at the center of the tube downstream of the stenosis where blood flow was disturbed, and this may be caused by the compound effect of flow turbulence and shear rate.