Hemorheological changes and characteristic parameters derived from whole blood viscometry in chronic heroin addicts

A group of 15 chronic opioid addicts (DA) with mean age 26.5+/-7.3 years was studied by means of a rotational Contraves Low Shear 30 viscometer and the results have been compared with a control group of 19 healthy subjects. It was found that the mean whole blood viscosity values of the investigated group of heroin abusers (n=15) were elevated compared to that of healthy persons (n=19) over the whole shear rate range and fell by more than ten orders of magnitude (Savov et al., 2006). The present investigation uses the coefficients of the models of Ostwald-de-Walle (power law) and Herschel-Bulkley law, which describe whole blood flow curves (tau-gamma) within the shear rates range from 10(-2) to 10(2) s(-1) and itself incorporate whole blood viscosity data in the entire shear rate range. A significant difference in the mean yield shear stress tau(0) values of the drug abusers' group compared to the controls was found. A strong positive linear correlation was determined between the parameters of RBC aggregation in the group of heroin addicts confirming our previous results (Ivanov and Antonova, 2005; Savov, Zvetkova et al., 2007; Savov, Antonova et al., 2007) for intensive RBC and platelet aggregation and morphological changes in DA group.