Comparison between uniform and exponentially tapered tube-models of descending aortic circulation

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of incorporating aortic tapering in a tube-model of descending aortic circulation. We described the descending aorta and its peripheral load by an exponentially tapered transmission-tube terminating in a first-order low-pass filter load. Then, we estimated the model parameters making use of experimental pressure and flow measurements taken from three anaesthetised dogs. Behaviour of this model was contrasted to that of a uniform tube-model. Comparison of model parameter estimates with physical and geometrical properties of the real system indicated that the uniform tube-model has better physiological relevance than the tapered tube-model.