Intraluminal velocity profile analyzed from flow waveforms.

Normal and abnormal flow waveforms, electromagnetically measured in the reconstructed arteries of patients with peripheral occlusive diseases of the lower extremity, were analyzed in terms of luminal velocity profile, using a newly designed flow wave simulation pump. The blood flow with normal flow wave was characterized by a large fluctuation in the velocity profile in the limited layer adjacent to the wall, where a reversal stream was characteristically noted during the phase of cardiac diastole. In contrast, in the abnormal flow wave, the velocity profile in the limited layer adjacent to the wall was always stagnant with little change in the velocity during each phase of a cardiac cycle. These observations clearly explain why an artery with a normal flow waveform remains patent, while an artery with an abnormal waveform tends to occlude. It was also found that the electromagnetically determined flow waveforms do provide the required information on the luminal velocity distribution.