Paper published in J Biomech Eng

Not long ago we reported differences in the characteristic shape of older vs. young adult carotid flow rate waveforms, which got us wondering whether and how such age-related differences might affect predictions of disturbed flow. In "Carotid bifurcation hemodynamics in older adults: effect of measured versus assumed flow waveform", we went a step further by testing the impact of not only waveform shape, but also mean flow rates, using the actual subject-specific measured flow condition as a gold standard. As it turned out, errors in mean flow had a greater impact on nominal metrics of disturbed flow, particularly oscillatory shear index (OSI); however, these effects were on the order of those due other assumptions we typically make regarding, say, blood rheology or inlet velocity profiles. Take-home message: don't sweat the waveform shape, but if you can measure the mean flow rates, go for it!