Methods in hemorheology and their clinical applications1

The lecture was presented during the Fåhraeus award ceremony for 2016 at the University of Lisbon. It summarizes the main results and some of the more important hemorheological contributions achieved in the Laboratory of Biodynamics and Biorheology of the Institute of Mechanics to BAS and in collaboration with other laboratories of the research group, involved in many studies explaining hemorheological disturbances in various clinical conditions. An original method for the study of microstructural changes in the biological fluids by measuring the electrical conductivity simultaneously with the the rheological properties of red blood cells (RBC) in the whole blood and red blood cell suspensions in a viscometric flow was suggested. The influence of the disturbed hemorheological parameters on the common carotid artery and cerebral blood flow was studied. Analysis of blood flow in the common carotid artery bifurcation with stenosis was done. This lecture does not claim to be a comprehensive review, and many important studies were not cited. The author would like to acknowledge the valuable collaboration of all those cited in the reference list.