Atrial fibrillation is the most significant contributor to thrombus formation within the heart and is responsible for 45% of all cardio embolic strokes, which account for approximately 15% of acute ischemic strokes cases worldwide. Atrial fibrillation can result in a reduction of normal cardiac output and cycle length of up to 30% and 40%, respectively. A total of 240 embolus analogues were released into a thin-walled, patient-specific aortic arch under normal (60 embolus analogues) and varying atrial fibrillation (180 embolus analogues) pulsatile flow conditions. Under healthy flow conditions (n = 60), the embolus analogues tended to follow the flow rate split through each outlet vessel. There was an increase in clot trajectories along the common carotid arteries under atrial fibrillation flow conditions. A shorter pulse period (0.3 s) displayed the highest percentage of clots travelling to the brain (24%), with a greater percentage of clots travelling through the left common carotid artery (17%). This study provides an experimental insight into the effect varying cardiac output and cycle length can have on the trajectory of a cardiac source blood clots travelling to the cerebral vasculature and possibly causing a stroke.

心房颤动是心脏内血栓形成的最重要因素，占所有心脏栓塞性中风的 45%，约占全球急性缺血性中风病例的 15%。心房颤动可导致正常心输出量和周期长度分别减少 30% 和 40%。在正常（60 个栓子类似物）和不同的心房颤动（180 个栓子类似物）脉动流条件下，总共 240 个栓子类似物被释放到薄壁的、患者特异性的主动脉弓中。在健康的流动条件下 (n = 60)，栓子类似物倾向于遵循通过每个出口容器的流速。在心房颤动血流条件下，沿颈总动脉的凝块轨迹增加。较短的脉冲周期 (0. 3 s) 显示到达大脑的凝块百分比最高 (24%)，通过左颈总动脉的凝块比例更大 (17%)。这项研究提供了对不同心输出量和周期长度对心源血凝块移动到脑血管系统并可能导致中风的轨迹的影响的实验见解。