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Blood viscosity is a measure of the resistance of blood to flow. It can also be described as the thickness and stickiness of blood. This biophysical property makes it a critical determinant of friction against the vessel walls, the rate of venous return, the work required for the heart to pump blood, and how much oxygen is transported to tissues and organs.
Certain medical conditions can change the viscosity of the blood. For instance, anemia (low red blood cell concentration) reduces viscosity, whereas increased red blood cell concentration increases viscosity. It had been thought that aspirin and related "blood thinner" drugs decreased the viscosity of blood, but instead studies found that they ...
Erythrocyte deformability is an important determinant of blood viscosity, hence blood flow resistance in the vascular system. [3] It affects blood flow in large blood vessels, due to the increased frictional resistance between fluid laminae under laminar flow conditions.
A variety of things can affect blood circulation: blood vessel health, blood pressure, thyroid function, hydration, heart health, exercise, and blood viscosity. (More on this in a moment.)
The Fåhræus–Lindqvist effect (/ f ɑː ˈ r eɪ. ə s ˈ l ɪ n d k v ɪ s t /) or sigma effect [1] describes how the viscosity of blood changes with the diameter of the vessel it travels through. In particular there is a decrease in viscosity as the vessel diameter decreases, but only at small diameters of 10–300 micrometers (mainly ...
An increased number of red blood cells (polycythemia) causes reduced ESR as blood viscosity increases. Hemoglobinopathy such as sickle-cell disease can have low ESR due to an improper shape of red blood cells that impairs stacking.
During CPB, blood viscosity can rise 10% to 30% at low temperature. [1] Thus, an appropriate degree of hemodilution is considered to be helpful to reduce the increased blood viscosity and the adverse effect of microcirculation. [1] Furthermore, this kind of degree of hemodilution is often given by an entire crystalloid prime. [1]
There is an inverse relationship between tube hematocrit and mean velocity of blood. (b) Viscosity in smaller tubes of < 0.3 mm is lower than that of large tube and decreases with decreasing diameter. (c) The migration of blood cells from the tube wall to the axis depends on the particle size and not on the particle density.