Hemodynamics Variations of Umbilical Vein and Ductus Venosusdue to different Material Properties

Abstract

Disease is a cause for abortion of a fetus even in the early stages of pregnancy, a contributing factor to the increase in rate of such abortions over the last decade. The inefficiency of flow of blood from the placenta to the human fetus in clinical studies, especially the ductus venosus (DV) needs further investigation. The DV acts as a rope between the umbilical vein and the inferior vena cava (IVC) in the right atrium. Therefore, DV is an important part of the fetus’s health. Any type of DV flow abnormity can lead to fetal abnormities.

In this study, we have focused on the hemodynamics in human fetal UV/DV regarding four different mechanical properties of UV, consisting of elastic, viscoelastic, and rigid. The investigated hemodynamic parameters include velocity, shear stress, and maximum pressures of the Isthmus and UV parts. The results show that the maximum pressure did not change sufficiently across UV or Isthmus. But the maximum shear stress happened in hyper hyper-elastic model. The velocity of the Isthmus is also maximum for hyper-elastic models. This study has focused on the main hemodynamics parameters of blood flow in UV/DV, and the obtained results were in good agreement with clinical/experimental literature. We found out that the hyperplastic model of UV/DV vein is more conformed to the experimental data.