Simulation of saline solution injection into a venous junction

Abstract

The determination of blood flow velocity in smaller venous vessels plays a highly important role for physicians. Several methods exist for the measurement of average blood velocity. One of the "in vivo" methods is the injection of bolus saline solution through a side branch into the carefully micropreparated venous section. The movement of the saline solution package is tracked using videomicroscopy. The average blood flow velocity is calculated using sophisticated image processing and cross-correlation techniques. The advantage of this method is the cost effectivity. However it remains unclear whether the injected saline solution disturbs the blood flow in the vessel. In the present paper Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) calculations are carried out to investigate this problem. Steady and unsteady calculations are carried out using different fluid models. The results and limitations of the calculations are presented and discussed in detail. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.