In vitro study of the axial flow velocity patterns in pulmonary valvular stenosis

The authors characterize the axial flow velocity patterns in an in vitro model of a human adult pulmonary artery with varying degrees of valvular stenosis. A two-dimensional laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) system was used to map the velocity fields in the main (MPA), left (LPA), and right (RPA) branches of the pulmonary artery model. The study was conducted using the Georgia Tech right heart pulse duplicator system. It was found that the flow velocity patterns in the MPA and LPA change dramatically with increasing degrees of valvular stenosis. However, in the RPA, they do not change much with varying degrees of valvular stenosis.<>