Physical Parameters of Arterial Thrombus as a Porous Medium

Abstract

The formation of a hemostatic thrombus is a key response of the hemostasis system to a wide range of possible vessel injuries. The basic mechanism of thrombus formation at high shear rate is platelet adhesion and aggregation. It is known that arterial thrombi are spatially heterogeneous. Such heterogeneity is thought to be due to the heterogeneous distribution of the platelet activators inside the thrombus. Spatiotemporal dynamics of molecules, which are involved in thrombus formation, depends on rates at which the substrates are transported. To explore the dynamics of arterial thrombus formation, continuum models that represent the thrombus as a porous media are currently widely used. Still, choosing parameters for these models is complicated due to a high level of uncertainty in the published experimental data. This review is focused on the analyses of the literature data on physical parameters of the arterial thrombus as a porous medium. Special attention is paid to the parameters of the thrombus shell, which is generally characterized by the higher values of porosity and permeability.