Many medical devices for treating heart failure generate nonphysiological shear flow. This can trigger the destruction of red blood cells after implantation of ventricular assist devices (VADs), artificial heart valves, vascular stents, or interventional thrombectomy devices.
Many medical devices for treating heart failure generate nonphysiological shear flow. This can trigger the destruction of red blood cells after implantation of ventricular assist devices (VADs), artificial heart valves, vascular stents, or interventional thrombectomy devices.
The destruction of red blood cells, or mechanical hemolysis, is an inevitable complication of interventional devices, so scientists want to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon.
In Physics of Fluids, researchers from Tsinghua University developed a red blood cell destruction model based on simulations of dissipative particle dynamics within a high shear flow. They used the results to make recommendations for improvements of VADs.
