Tao R, Huang K
Department of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122, USA.
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2011 Jul;84(1 Pt 1):011905. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.84.011905. Epub 2011 Jul 12.
Blood viscosity is a major factor in heart disease. When blood viscosity increases, it damages blood vessels and increases the risk of heart attacks. Currently, the only method of treatment is to take drugs such as aspirin, which has, however, several unwanted side effects. Here we report our finding that blood viscosity can be reduced with magnetic fields of 1 T or above in the blood flow direction. One magnetic field pulse of 1.3 T lasting ~1 min can reduce the blood viscosity by 20%-30%. After the exposure, in the absence of magnetic field, the blood viscosity slowly moves up, but takes a couple of hours to return to the original value. The process is repeatable. Reapplying the magnetic field reduces the blood viscosity again. By selecting the magnetic field strength and duration, we can keep the blood viscosity within the normal range. In addition, such viscosity reduction does not affect the red blood cells' normal function. This technology has much potential for physical therapy.
血液粘度是心脏病的一个主要因素。当血液粘度增加时，它会损害血管并增加心脏病发作的风险。目前，唯一的治疗方法是服用阿司匹林等药物，然而，这些药物有几种不良副作用。在此我们报告我们的发现：在血流方向施加1T或更高的磁场可以降低血液粘度。一个持续约1分钟的1.3T磁场脉冲可使血液粘度降低20%-30%。暴露后，在没有磁场的情况下，血液粘度会缓慢上升，但需要几个小时才能恢复到原始值。这个过程是可重复的。再次施加磁场会再次降低血液粘度。通过选择磁场强度和持续时间，我们可以将血液粘度保持在正常范围内。此外，这种粘度降低不会影响红细胞的正常功能。这项技术在物理治疗方面有很大潜力。
