Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-54). / Endothelial dysfunction is a precursor to atherosclerosis. Thus, the vascular health of an individual can be assessed if endothelial dysfunction can be readily and unambiguously quantified. A thermal-based approach using temperature and blood perfusion measurements in conjunction with an arterial challenge has the potential to quantitatively assess endothelial dysfunction. This report includes a detailed review of previous attempts to characterize endothelial dysfunction and a preliminary evaluation of a thermal-based approach that relies on temperature and perfusion measurements. Two simple thermal models are used to contextualize results obtained from this technique. Results reveal that this thermal-based method serves as a valid indicator of endothelial assessment while at the same time reducing some of the mitigating factors of existing approaches to identifying endothelial dysfunction. More testing must be performed in order to optimize this thermal-based approach. / by Muyinatu A. Lediju. / S.B.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/36737 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Lediju, Muyinatu A. (Muyinatu Adebisi) |
| Contributors | H. Frederick Bowman., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. |
| Publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | M.I.T. Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 54 leaves, application/pdf |
| Rights | M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 |
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