Telemachos Agoudemos, “Hemodynamic Analysis Using Particle Image Velocimetry”
Mentor: Roshan D’Souza, Mechanical Engineering
Poster #148

Blood pressure is traditionally determined by inflating and deflating a cuff that produces values for the systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Critically ill patients often require continuous blood pressure monitoring achieved only by invasive techniques. “Pulse Wave Velocity” (PWV) is a technique that can provide continuous, cuff less, and noninvasive blood pressure monitoring. This research explores the possibility of using the technique of “Particle Image Velocimetry” (PIV) as a non-invasive method to determine PWV. High blood pressure is often called the “silent killer”, and can lead to heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and death. While newer technologies have been developed to gather and monitor vital information, they are dependent on assumptions which could increase the risk of misdiagnosis and reduce the potential for early identification of dangerous conditions. Current PWV methods involve the use of equations that assume the blood vessel area and wall thickness are constant and that blood is incompressible. Our new PIV technique uses a contrast within the blood that can be optical identified, providing an accurate modeling fluid flow. This allows for a working model to be evaluated by medical professionals. This research uses models with tracer particles in a glycerin solution which are pumped through glass tubes. Twin Yttrium-Aluminum Garnet (YAG) lasers are used to excite the tracer particles and a series of pictures are taken to model the fluid flow. We anticipate establishing the justification for a more effective method of analyzing PWV. The results may lead to a non-intrusive tool that produces a greater resolution of the pulsatile flow in the vascular system and PWV data for blood pressure analysis. This could have significant impact to patient diagnosis and early detections of vascular conditions.