Physical Parameters of Arterial Thrombus as a Porous Medium

Abstract

The formation of a hemostatic thrombus is a key response of the hemostatic system to a wide range of possible vascular damage. The main mechanism of thrombus growth in conditions of high shear rates is platelet adhesion and aggregation. It is known that arterial thrombi have significant spatial heterogeneity, which is associated with the heterogeneity of the distribution of platelet activators in the thrombus structure. The spatiotemporal dynamics of the molecules involved in thrombosis depends on the parameters of the transfer of these substances in the thrombus. To study the dynamics of arterial blood thrombi formation, continuum models representing a blood thrombus as a porous medium are actively used today. However, when choosing the parameters of such models, researchers face significant uncertainty caused by conflicting experimental data. This review analyzes the published data on the physical parameters of an arterial thrombus as a porous medium. Special attention is paid to the analysis of parameters for the external part of the thrombus, the so-called shell, which is generally characterized by higher values of porosity and permeability.