Intravenous echoes due to laminar flow: experimental observations.
Flowing "particles" have been observed within abdominal veins using high-resolution real-time scanners. Experimental models in which fluids of different composition were infused into each other show strong echoes corresponding with visual laminations before complete admixture has occurred. Interfaces between different fluids within the physiologic range seem adequate to account for these echoes. As predicted by this observation, the laminar flow echoes are seen downstream of junction sites where blood different compositions flows together, notably at the renal and hepatic vein junctions with the inferior vena cava, but the phenomenon is not seen in arteries.
D000005:Abdomen / Q000098:blood supply*; D005740:Gases / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014680:Veins / Q000033:anatomy & histology
D005740:Gases