For your doctor to explain to you.
Blood Coagulation Detector May Help in Monitoring Stroke Risk
An analyser recently developed to measure blood coagulability has the sensitivity to detect hypercoagulatibility associated with stroke risk in those without atrial fibrillation (AF), according to research published in PLOS ONE.
To estimate the risk of stroke among patients with AF and determine the requirement for anticoagulation therapy, the CHADS2 predictive score is used. Because some parts of this score are also associated with atherosclerosis risk and increased blood coagulability, a high score has been proposed as linked to hypercoagulability in both patients with and without AF. However, this association has not been fully investigated, partly owing to the lack of a sensitive means of detection.
Researchers from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), Tokyo, Japan, used a highly sensitive technique to measure small changes in blood coagulation, and found hypercoagulability in patients without AF with high CHADS2 scores.
Several physical and chemical factors affect blood clotting, some of which can be measured over time to determine blood coagulability and the likelihood of clot formation. Dielectric blood coagulometry (DBCM) is a recently developed test that measures changes in the dielectric permittivity of whole blood, representing clumping of red blood cells.
The researchers used DBCM to detect changes in the dielectric permittivity of whole blood at 10 MHz. Comparisons between untreated blood and that with added heparin or tissue factor enabled derivation of a coagulability index.
“We calculated the end of acceleration time as an index of coagulability from temporal changes in dielectric permittivity,” said Satomi Hamada, TMDU. “This value reduced when tissue factor was added, and increased with heparin present. It was also sensitive enough to detect small changes in coagulability, particularly in hypercoagulability.”
End of acceleration time (EAT) also boasts high reproducibility and reliability. The researchers found that patients receiving warfarin had a significantly longer EAT than those without, confirming the anticoagulation effect. They also showed that patients with a high CHADS2 score had a significantly shorter EAT that represented hypercoagulability compared with patients with lower CHADS2 scores.
“"Intriguingly, EAT varied widely in patients with CHADS2 scores of 0 or 1,” said lead author Yuki Hasegawa, TMDU. “This suggests that DBCM can identify high risk of thrombosis even in patients with low CHADS2 scores.”
SOURCE: Tokyo Medical and Dental University
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