Biomechanics: measuring the human body

How can cardiovascular diseases be treated in a targeted way and postoperative complications reduced? Researchers at the Institute of Biomechanics provide answers using methods from engineering. Everything flows. Our vessels are nothing but thin elastic pipes through which blood constantly circulates to supply organs and tissues with oxygen. And just as pipes can get clogged and exposed to friction and stresses, so do blood vessels change in the course of our lives. Elasticity is diminished, and calcium and fat are deposited on the walls of these "bio-pipes", making them gradually narrower - what is known as atherosclerosis. Sooner or later not enough oxygen-rich blood can flow to the tissues. Also, the pumping efficiency of the heart muscle, which is nothing but an electromechanical pump, slowly decreases.