Wave speed and reflections proximal to aneurism and stenosis of flexible tubes

Arterial aneurism and stenosis are disorders that lead to circulation malfunction. Stenosis often leads to hypoxia of the organ depending on the affected artery, whilst aneurism can lead to dissection with known lethal consequences. On both cases, the pulse wave produced by the contracting heart is reflected at these discontinuities, and estimating the size of these reflected waves using wave intensity analysis (WIA) is the main aim of this work. We also aim to measure wave speed, or pulse wave velocity (PWV) as more commonly known within the discontinuities. We manufactured 4 stenosis and 4 aneurism silicon sections, connected one at a time to a mother tube, and tested in vitro. Pressure and flow were measured proximal to the discontinuity and were used to calculate WIA. PWV was calculated using the foot to foot technique and also the classical Moens-Korteweg and Bramwell-Hill equations. Wave speed in an aneurism decreases, whereas it increases in a stenosis, all compared to the values determined in a standard mother tube. Presence of aneurisms resulted in a backward expansion whilst the presence of stenosis resulted in a backward compression wave, which related linearly to the size of the discontinuity. Larger aneurisms and smaller stenosis cause an increase in wave reflection.