Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 2.19
Genesis of isch-
emic stroke: A blood clot
in the blood stream can be
lodged in a cerebral artery.
This undesirable item can be
debris of a ruptured plaque.
The ruptured plaque compo-
nents can travel downstream
to the arteries in the brain
region and initiating a cut-off
of blood supply in the cere-
bral region resulting in stroke
in our society and there exists significant motivation to study its cause and medical
remedies.
As discussed previously, atherosclerosis is one of the well-known causes
of stroke (Ross 1999). The blockage of a carotid bifurcation is demonstrated in
Fig.
2.19
. In the regions of disturbed blood flow, which are found around carotid
bifurcation, there is an increased chance of atheroma deposition. The worst scenario
occurs when such atherosclerotic lesions aggravate and lead to health complication
such as stroke or heart attacks.
2.4
Summary
This chapter gives an overview of the components and functions of the circulation
system, which comprises the cardiovascular system, lymphatic system, the pulmo-
nary, the systemic and the coronary circulations. Major physiological components
of these systems such as the heart, aorta, carotid arteries as well as the coronary
arteries and vascular network are provided. This chapter also presents common car-
diovascular health problems related to the disease of the heart.
The primary aim of this chapter is to summarize the important features of blood
circulatory flow by presenting the anatomy and physiology of the cardiovascular
system. It by no means is a replacement for a comprehensive anatomy and physiol-
ogy study. It does however aim to provide an understanding of the anatomy and
physiology of the cardiovascular system, and the mechanics of blood flow. Further-
more, variations in the physiology and diseases of the blood vessels should be taken
into account as it influences many settings for the computational model. The next
chapter presents techniques in reconstructing the blood vessels from medical imag-
ing scans, which is the first step in a CHD analysis.
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