An Investigation of Blood Flow Behavior and Hemolysis in Artificial Organs

Abstract

In our previous study, in vitro hemolysis tests showed that collision flow against wall roughness had an effect on hemolysis when the flow velocity was more than 3 m/s and surface roughness was more than Ra = 1.54 microm. However, the specific portion of the flow on the wall that induced hemolysis was not clarified. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to present the relationship between flow behavior and hemolysis by means of in vitro tests and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. We investigated the relationship between the location of surface roughness and hemolysis. In CFD, we investigated the flow behavior on the wall. The highest rate of hemolysis was observed in a region around the center of the surface roughness on the bottom plate. On CFD analyses, the flow behavior included the highest wall shear stress (304 Pa) and the highest flow acceleration (2.8 m/s2) around the center of the bottom plate. Therefore, it is concluded that the causes of hemolysis during collision flow depend upon wall shear stress and flow acceleration.

Haemolysis in patients with ventricular assist devices: major differences between systems☆

“…Haemolysis is a relevant adverse effect of several VAD types. Destruction of red blood cells (RBCs) is the result of wall shear stress, flow acceleration and interaction with artificial surfaces [1]. It contributes, together with the specific bleeding problems, [2,3] to debilitating anaemia in VAD patients.…”

Microhaemodynamics within the blade tip clearance of a centrifugal turbodynamic blood pump

“…While a number of experimental studies have been conducted to study the influence of the flow path geometry on the haemolytic propensity of turbodynamic blood pumps [8][9][10][11][12], none, to the best of the present authors' knowledge, has explicitly studied the effect of blade tip clearance on haemolysis. Likewise, several flow visualization studies have been performed to examine the microflow fields within the impeller journals and clearances [13,14]; however, none of these studies has explicitly examined the kinematics of the blood cells nor their deformation in these regions.…”

Macrovascular and microvascular function after implantation of left ventricular assist devices in end-stage heart failure: Role of microparticles

“…8 Hemolysis is a relevant sequela of several LVAD types, especially axial LVADs. 9 Destruction of red blood cells (RBCs) is the result of wall shear stress, flow acceleration, and interaction with artificial surfaces 10 and leads to release of free hemoglobin and RBC microparticles, which are defined by the expression of CD235 antigen. Increased levels of RBC microparticles have been found in patients with sickle cell disease 11 and β-thalassemia major, 12 which are also characterized by hemolysis.…”