Abstract
THE concept of resistance to flow is widely used by physiologists and clinicians when inferring vessel behaviour from pressure and flow data. For a great number of years ‘resistance to flow’ has been defined by physiologists as the ratio of the pressure drop across a vessel system to the flow that results. As so defined, Burton1 has pointed out that “… resistance to flow is strictly analogous to ‘resistance’ in electrical measurements, which is defined by Ohm's Law”, and he believes that “resistance to flow remains a useful clarifying concept”. The resistance unit most widely used is the peripheral resistance unit (p.r.u.), which is, according to Green2, “equivalent to the ohm”, and is defined as 1 p.r.u. = 1 mm. mercury/1 ml. per min.
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References
Burton, A. C., “Laws of Physics and Flow in Blood Vessels” in “Visceral Circulation”, Ciba Foundation Symposium (J. and A. Churchill, 1952).
Green, H. D., “Circulatory System: Physical Principles” in Glasser's “Medical Physics”, 2 (1950).
Duke, H. N., “The Pulmonary Circulation”, in “The Control of the Circulation of the Blood”, Supp. vol. arranged by McDowall, R. J. S. (Wm. Dawson and Sons, Ltd., 1956).
Arber, A., “The Biologist's Use of Analogy”, in “The Mind and the Eye” (Cambridge University Press, 1954).
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CARLILL, S. Resistance to Flow in Vascular Beds. Nature 181, 1607–1608 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/1811607b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1811607b0
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