Disposable Porous Bed Viscometer: A New Method for Measuring Blood Viscosity

摘要

A disposable porous bed viscometer (PBV) that has rheologic properties related to that of the microvasculature has recently been developed for the measurement of whole blood viscosity (WBV) under conditions of low shear and low stress. The measured endpoint of apparent viscosity with the PBV is the time for a given volume of whole blood to flow a calibrated distance through the porous bed. The various conditions of sample collection, sample storage and temperature required to obtain accurate and reproducible results with the PBV are described. The mean WBV of 242 normal persons was 22.7 +/- 5.3 seconds corresponding to an apparent viscosity of 5.7 +/- 1.3 centipoise, a value in general agreement with previous studies obtained using rotational viscometers. There was, as expected, a significant difference in the WBV of normal men and women related to their different packed cell volumes. Platelets and granulocytes also influenced WBV, but in proportion to their contribution to the total packed cell volume. In normal subjects, fibrinogen level did not significantly influence WBV. The PBV is a rapid and reproducible means to measure WBV in normal populations which should have clinical application in disorders in which ease of performance and replication is an important consideration.