Abstract
Laser Doppler anemometry has been applied to the measurement of the local velocity of blood flowing in venules and in small-diameter glass tubes. As a consequence, the capabilities and limitations of the technique, for this purpose, are identified and quantified. It is shown that multiple scattering, absorption and wave front distortion preclude precise measurements at haematocrit values near those of whole blood. The location of measurement in round capillaries is impossible to identify with satisfactory resolution and it is suggested that the application of the technique, for local measurements, should be limited to plane channels with ghost cells or blood of low haematocrit: in addition, approximate measurements of the integrated velocity can probably be obtained with whole blood in tubes of small diameter, say less than 50 μm.
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