Abstract
A practical flow visualization is applied to blood flows through blood vessels to fully understand the macro- and microcirculatory pathophysiology. A model study was made using the fluid-dynamical similarity in order to examine the detailed structure of blood flow in a cerebrovascular aneurysm. The steady and pulsatile flows were visualized in a curved model vessel with an asymmetric aneurysm using a tracer method. A laser Doppler velocimetry was also used to measure the pulsatile velocity in aneurysm.
It was observed that vortices were induced in aneurysm, influencing the flow structure and velocity at the presence of the secondary flow due to the vessel curvature. It was suggested that blood flow in cerebral aneurysm may be influenced by the secondary flow as well as the pulsation.
