Clinical implications of turbulence in the cardiovascular system: Its relation to cardiac murmurs, arterial bruits, and some characteristics of arterial pressure

Article type: Review Article

Authors: Stein, Paul D.

Affiliations: Department of Medicine (Division of Cardiovascular Medicine) and Department of Surgery, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, 48202, USA

Note: [] Accepted by: Editor-in-Chief A.L. Copley

Abstract: Turbulent or highly disturbed flow in the normal resting human being is limited to the vicinity of the aortic and pulmonary valves (1) and perhaps turbulence may also be present within the heart. The clinical importance of turbulence is related to the detection and interpretation of cardiac murmurs and arterial bruits. Some aspects of the configuration of arterial pressures relate to turbulence. Of pathophysiological significance is the possibility that turbulence may contribute to the formation of arterial aneurysms. The related high shear stresses of turbulence may contribute to platelet activation. This may relate to thrombosis in the region of prosthetic valves, and there is speculation that platelet activation may participate in the degenerative process of stenotic valves and perhaps in the continuing disease process of atherosclerosis. The possible pathophysiological consequences of turbulence recently have been reviewed (1).

Keywords: Turbulence, murmurs, arterial pressure, blood flow velocity, cardiovascular system

DOI: 10.3233/CH-1981-1209

Journal: Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 197-213, 1981