A fiber-optic technique to determine blood residence times and washout patterns in the Penn State artificial heart

Low shear regions tend to be sites of stasis or stagnation of blood cells. To quantify and evaluate the degree of stagnation, a flush-mountable fiber-optic probe was developed, and dye dilution techniques utilizing the fluorescent dye fluorescein were applied. This method allowed the washout patterns to be determined at several locations within the chamber, extending approximately 2 mm from the chamber wall. Both the 100-cm³ angle port and 70-cm³ parallel port chamber configurations were investigated under 30% and 50% systolic duration regimes