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Journal Article Ppublish 27 citations

PubMed: 29736127 DOI: 10.1016/j.euromechflu.2017.12.009

Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Non-Newtonian Behavior of Blood Flow in the Fontan Circulation.

Eur J Mech B Fluids 68:184-192

Authors: Andrew L Cheng, Niema M Pahlevan, Derek G Rinderknecht, John C Wood, Morteza Gharib

Affiliations

  • Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • Huntington Medical Research Institutes, Pasadena, CA, USA.
  • Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
  • Department of Medical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.

Abstract

The Fontan procedure for univentricular heart defects creates a unique circulation where all pulmonary blood flow is passively supplied directly from systemic veins. Computational simulations, aimed at optimizing the surgery, have assumed blood to be a Newtonian fluid without evaluating the potential error introduced by this assumption. We compared flow behavior between a non-Newtonian blood analog (0.04% xanthan gum) and a control Newtonian fluid (45% glycerol) in a simplified model of the Fontan circulation. Particle image velocimetry was used to examine flow behavior at two different cardiac outputs and two caval blood flow distributions. Pressure and flow rates were measured at each inlet and outlet. Velocity, shear strain, and shear stress maps were derived from velocity data. Power loss was calculated from pressure, flow, and velocity data. Power loss was increased in all test conditions with xanthan gum vs. glycerol (mean 10±2.9% vs. 5.6±1.3%, p=0.032). Pulmonary blood flow distribution differed in all conditions, more so at low cardiac output. Caval blood flow mixing patterns and shear stress were also qualitatively different between the solutions in all conditions. We conclude that assuming blood to be a Newtonian fluid introduces considerable error into simulations of the Fontan circulation, where low-shear flow predominates.

MeSH

Blood Circulation, Stress, Physiological, Glycerol, Cardiac Output, Gingiva

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