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Physiological Significance of Helical Flow in the Arterial System and its Potential Clinical Applications

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Abstract

Helical flow in the human aorta is possibly a typical example of ‘form follows function’ in the vascular system. The helical blood flow may provide guaranties for the inner surface of the ascending aortic wall to get smooth and even washing by the blood so that atherosclerotic plaques can hardly form in the area of the ascending aorta. It has been documented that the phenomenon of helical flow of blood is not just localized in the ascending aorta, it also exists in several large arteries and veins as well. Preliminary studies demonstrated the widely existing helical flow might play positive physiological roles in facilitating blood flow transport, suppressing disturbed blood flow, preventing the accumulation of atherogenic low density lipoproteins on the luminal surfaces of arteries, enhancing oxygen transport from the blood to the arterial wall and reducing the adhesion of blood cells on the arterial surface. These roles of helical blood flow may lessen the burden of arteries and protect the arteries from the pathology of atherosclerosis, thrombosis, and intimal hyperplasia. The great development of time-resolved three-dimensional phase contrast MRI (flow-sensitive 4D-MRI) and the advent of dimensionless indices such as helical flow index proposed to characterize helical flow make clinic quantification of the helical flow in the human large arteries possible. Moreover, researchers probed into the possibility to apply the mechanism of helical flow to the design of vascular interventions to reduce thrombus formation and intimal hyperplasia caused by abnormal flow conditions.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by Grants-in-Aid from the National Natural Science Research Foundation of China (No. 11332003, 31200703, 11102014, 11202016, 11421202), Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20121102120038), Special Fund for Excellent Doctor Degree Dissertation of Beijing (20131000601) and the 111 Project (B13003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Biomechanics and Mechanobiology of the Ministry of Education, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Xiao Liu, Anqiang Sun, Yubo Fan & Xiaoyan Deng

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  1. Xiao Liu
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  2. Anqiang Sun
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  3. Yubo Fan
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  4. Xiaoyan Deng
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Correspondence to Yubo Fan or Xiaoyan Deng.

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Associate Editor Andreas Anayiotos oversaw the review of this article.

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Liu, X., Sun, A., Fan, Y. et al. Physiological Significance of Helical Flow in the Arterial System and its Potential Clinical Applications. Ann Biomed Eng 43, 3–15 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-014-1097-2

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