Abstract
Recent studies suggest that the tail of the washout of tracer-labeled substances from physiological systems can exhibit power-law behavior. In this work we develop a theoretical interpretation of the power-law behavior of the flow-limited washout of tracer-labeled water from the myocardium. Using minimal assumptions concerning the complicated structure of the coronary network we show that the washout from a heterogeneous flow system is given by h(t) ≃ A · p1(V/t)−β, where β is close to 3, p1 is the probability density of flows through the system, V is a constant volume associated with each pathway, and A is a constant. This prediction fits observed power-law washout behavior of tracer water in the heart. This theory is general enough to lead us to speculate that close examination of transport in other heterogeneity-perfused systems is likely to reveal similar power-law behavior. © 1998 Biomedical Engineering Society.
PAC98: 8745-k, 8722Fy
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Beard, D.A., Bassingthwaighte, J.B. Power-Law Kinetics of Tracer Washout from Physiological Systems. Annals of Biomedical Engineering 26, 775–779 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1114/1.105
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1114/1.105