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336-338,
1996
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ELSEVIER
Department
of Phvsiolow.
College
Set. 1, Jen-Ai Rd, Taipec Taiwan
Received
Med.
8 March
Eng.
Phys.,
1995, accepted
1996,
Vol.
25 July
of Medicine,
National
Taiwan
University,
No. 1,
1995
There is no argument
to say that the geometric
and elastic tapering of the arterial system is the
rule of nature and any assumption
to describe the
mechanical
and anatomical
properties
of blood
vessels in a uniform fashion deviates considerably
from the reality.
Diameter
tapering is evident as lumen radius
and wall thickness become
progressively
small
toward the peripheral.
The wall stiffness and
pulse wave velocity are increasing
with the distance from the heart. There are many reports suggesting that the reflection
phenomena
in the
arterial system are low-pass filteredz4.
This lowpass filtering
is presumed
to be due to the geometric and elastic differences,
such as tapering,
between the proximal
and distal portions of the
arterial tree. Both diameter
and elastic tapering
cause a smooth change of the arterial impedance
and will have a substantial impact on the magnitude and/or sequence of pulse wave reflection.
In studies of Wave travel in arteries and the
design of the cardiovascular
system, Taylor summarized the main effects of non-uniformity
of the
arterial system 5. These found that the efficiency of
the system will be enhanced if the system is made
progressively
less distensible
in its peripheral
extensions.
If the heart frequency
be suitably
chosen, such a non-uniform
distensibility
will
result in minimal
reflected components
from the
periphery
and a functional
isolation of the input
impedance,
thus both reducing cardiac work and
keeping
it relatively
constant
at different
frequencies. It was concluded
that the experimental
evidence is all in favour of the existence of such
suitable non-uniformity
in the mammalian
arterial
system. Consequently,
making use of a uniform
transmission
line to relate pulsatile pressure and
flow waveforms in the ascending aorta is indeed
improper.
Burattinis
contribution
on the uniform model is well recognized.
However, from a
scientific point of view, the important
thing is how
different
and non-uniform
T-tube models are adopted to
relate the same pulsatile aortic pressure and flow
fkpownl~a~~y
signals. It is obvious to notice that at high frequency portion the input impedance
at the inlet
of head circulation
is considerably
smaller than
that at the entrance of body circulation
when
their uniform
T-tube is used to analyse the data
(see Figure I). When our data are analysed with
the uniform T-tube model, the result is similiar to
that obtained
by Burattini
et aZ.,. However, this
is in contradiction
with the general finding that
the blood vessels in the head circulation,
brachiocephalic
and left subclavian arteries, are stiffer
and narrower than those in the body circulation,
descending
thoracic aorta and large arteries in
the abdomen.
The phase velocity is a function
of both pulsation, o, and position, z, along the paths (&~re
9.7 and Fi re 9.5 in the book of Milnor,
respectively) $-I. This is the characterstic
of the
arterial system no matter whether the arterial system is modelled
or not. Burattini
et al. argue that
the phase velocity in a uniform transmission
tube
is independent
of pulsation and the phase velocity
must be a function
of pulsation
in an exponentially tapered transmission
line. They conclude
tapred
t-tube
model
of systemic
arterial
syslrm
in dqp:
KuoChu
Chang
(1)
0
Frcqlrciay
(lb)
100
200
Frequency
300
400
(Hz)
337
&$onatially
Table
(N= 10)
Mean 251 9.75 0.0528
+SD f41 24.82 f0.0269
0.0634
344 22.42 0.0888
0.1549
f0.0166 f78 f7.31 f0.0323 f0.0879
Subscript
h = head
circulation;
b = body
circulation.
Z, = characteristic inpedance at the inlet of the tube (dyne s cmm5);
r = tube-end transmission time
(ms);
(I&= tube
compliance
(ml mmHg-); Cr= load compliance (ml mmHg-).
338
Chang