Rheological properties and blood flow behavior in tube flow and vascular networks.

Improvement of hemorheological methodology in recent years has led to increased knowledge about rheological properties of blood. By contrast, however, the concepts underlying interpretation of rheological behavior in the cardiovascular system are less well developed. Recent rheological measurements during blood flow in small tubes show that predictions of microcirculatory hemodynamics on the basis of viscometric measurements remain uncertain. The rheological consequence of cell sedimentation as well as flow fractionation effects at microvessel bifurcations need to be taken into account.