EVALUATION OF CORONARY BLOOD FLOW VELOCITY PROFILE BY LASER DOPPLER VELOCIMETER WITH OPTICAL FIBER
In order to measure a phasic arterial blood flow velocity accurately ina small sample volume, we have developed a Laser Doppler Velocimeter with an optical fiber. After the fundamental experiments to evaluate the accuracy of the present method, the coronary blood flow velocity was measured in five anesthetized mongrel dogs. The velocity waveform near the center line of the left circumflex coronary artery showed a diastolic dominant flow pattern, which is a characteristic of coronary arterial flow. During diastole two peaks in the flow velocity pattern were commonly observed in early and in late diastolic phase. The blood flow velocity decreased especially in late diastole with traversing the fiber tip toward the vessel wall and the velocity component in early diastole also decreased at sampling points very close to the vessel wall. From these investigations, we have found that the laser Doppler velocimeter using an optical fiber represents a promising method for the evaluation of the precise flow fields in the coronary artery.
