Correlation of Hemorheology Parameter Hematocrit with Hemodynamic Factors and Arterial Diseases

The aggregation, dispersion and deformation of cellular components of blood in the vasculature affect blood rheology to a greater extent. At low shear rate erythrocytes tend to aggregate and form rouleaux and at a high shear rate they dis perse and get deformed into ellipsoid with their long axis aligned in the flow direction. While rouleaux formations increase viscosity, dispersion and deformation of erythrocytes minimizes and maintains it to a constant value. Phenomenological hemorheology models can provide more scientific meaning if they are ex pressed in terms of the constituent elements of blood. They can provide fundamental explanation to complex biological and disease pro cesses. When hematocrit is included in the Casson blood rheology model, hemodynamics model shows the strong correlation between hematocrit and Abstract: Blood rheology and hemodynamics models show positive correlation between hematocrit and hemodynamic factors that has implication to physiological and arterial disease processes. Blood flow is modeled by the NavierStokes equation and its non-Newtonian property by the Casson equation. Hematocrit dependent parameters in the Casson equation integrate the hematocrit level in the mathematical model. Then the mathematical model was linearized on a tetrahedral computational grid using the finite volume method. Results show strong correlation between hematocrit and hemodynamic factors. The determined hemodynamic factors and their strong correlation with the hematocrit provide explanation how these factors promote the atherosclerotic process in the right coronary artery at a steady flow and how influence arterial disease process.