Blood viscosity autoregulation factor in cerebrovascular accidents and high risk cases – A new approach

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Hussain, A. | Puniyani, R.R. | Kar, S.

Affiliations: School of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay-400 076, India

Abstract: Autoregulation is an active adaptive reaction by virtue of which cerebral blood flow remains constant despite variations in perfusion pressure. There exist an inverse relationship between cerebral blood flow and the viscosity of blood. The concept of autoregulatory mechanism for blood viscosity was suggested in the recent past. This autoregulatory mechanism which suffer a loss in ischemic stroke cases is quantitatively presented in the present investigation in terms of power law coefficients namely, n and k, through an empirical relation. Further it is shown that the blood viscosity autoregulation factor (A) in the follow-up stroke cases having no risk factor except age, is restored by seventh day to the range shown for age matched healthy controls. The quantification of already existing concept of blood viscosity autoregulation especially with reference to follow-up stroke cases may help the clinicians understand the relationship between the severity of disease and the extent of alteration in the resistance to the flow of blood. This method of analysis may reveal the action of drugs destroying or restoring the autoregulation in different diseases.

Keywords: Viscosity, Microcirculation, Autoregulation, Stroke

DOI: 10.3233/CH-1995-15108

Journal: Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 61-71, 1995