ESTIMATING THE MEAN BLOOD FLOW OF ARM BASED ON WINDKESSEL MODEL

Abstract

The blood flow is always used to evaluate the arterial obstruction or arteriosclerosis. The echo-method is the standard. In this study, we propose a new method for assessing the total mean blood flow of the arm using a known brachial arterial compliance and based on a two-element Windkessel (WK) model, in which the arterial hemodynamics consists of a peripheral arterial resistor and a peripheral arterial capacitor in parallel. The known compliance of the brachial artery belonging to a local and relative amount has been estimated from the pattern of the oscillometric waveform in our previous study. An estimating peripheral arterial compliance and resistance are got from the known compliance. The governing equation of the two-element WK model is then used to get the blood flow waveform. The accuracy of WK-based mean blood flow (FWK) is validated by comparing it with the mean blood flow (Fecho) estimated by an echo-based method in the brachial arteries of 32 subjects. The results showed that the values of FWKand Fechowere significantly correlated (r = 0.671). This suggests that a total mean blood flow can be evaluated by the known arterial compliances derived by regional or relative changed measurements.