Comparative study of healthy vertebral artery blood flow from plain and plateau region / 国际生物医学工程杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To conduct comparative study of healthy vertebral artery (VA) blood flow of subjects from plain and plateau region using color Doppler ultrasound (CDUS) measurement,and to investigate the influence of plateau on blood flow of VA.Methods One hundred and thirty-five subjects from plain region and eighty from high altitude region were recruited.Time averaged maximum velocity and inradium (D) of VA were measured with CDUS technology.Unilateral VA blood flow and total blood flow were calculated.Peripheral blood viscosity measurement was carried out by testing low cut,mid cut,high cut,plasma viscosity and red blood cell count (RBC),hemoglobin concentration (HGB),hematocrit (HCT).Results VA diameter,blood viscosity,RBC,HGB,and HCT of plateau group are all higher than that of the plain group (P＜0.05),while the total blood flow was lower than that of plain group and the value of male was higher than that of female (P＜0.05).The inradiums of right side VA were larger than that of the left side (P＜0.05) in plain group,while no difference was observed in plateau group (P＞0.05).Conclusions Long term (＞10 years) living in plateau hypoxia (altitude＞3 000 m) environment can reduce the average flow velocity and the blood flow of VA.