Blood Flow Velocimetry in a Microchannel During Coagulation Using Particle Image Velocimetry and Wavelet-Based...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Fluid Dynamics
• Hematology

Background:

• Understanding blood flow dynamics during coagulation is crucial for diagnosing and treating thrombotic disorders.
• Current methods for measuring microchannel blood flow during clotting have limitations in resolution and detail.
• Thrombus formation significantly alters blood flow, impacting physiological processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate novel optical velocimetry techniques for measuring whole blood flow in microchannels during coagulation.
• To quantify key parameters of blood coagulation, including clotting time, decay rate, and blockage ratio.
• To provide high-resolution, detailed insights into thrombus formation and its effect on blood flow evolution.

Main Methods:

• Volumetric imaging of whole blood flow in a microchannel using a white light source and microscope camera.
• Application of particle image velocimetry (PIV) and wavelet-based optical flow velocimetry (wOFV) using blood cells as tracers.
• Computation of clinically relevant parameters: clotting time, decay rate, and blockage ratio.

Main Results:

• Successful measurement of whole blood flow velocity in a microchannel during coagulation.
• High-resolution data on thrombus formation and evolution obtained using wOFV.
• Quantification of clotting time, decay rate, and blockage ratio.

Conclusions:

• The developed optical velocimetry methods enable novel, high-resolution measurements of blood flow during coagulation.
• Detailed insights into thrombus formation and flow dynamics are achievable with wOFV.
• These findings offer a new perspective on microchannel blood flow during coagulation for potential clinical applications.