Journal
ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY
Volume 32, Issue 10, Pages 1529-1537Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2006.06.008
Keywords
transient elastography; acoustic shear waves; sol-gel transition; blood clotting; fibrinogen; heparin; hematocrit variations; elasticity; viscosity; mechanical properties
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Blood clotting is, a natural process that can be both beneficial and life-threatening for the human body. It allows the maintenance of hemostasis after vascular injury, but it can also cause deep vein thrombosis and heart stroke. This study aimed better to understand the clotting process from a biomechanical point of view by using an acoustic method. The long-term objective is the staging of the age of clots in deep veins for therapy planning. The transient elastography method using a shear elasticity probe served to evaluate the shear wave velocity (V-s) and shear wave attenuation (alpha(s)) of porcine whole blood during in vitro clot formation. By solving an inverse problem, it was then possible to provide images of the elasticity (mu(beta)) and of the viscosity (eta(beta)) from clotting blood. The time-varying elasticity and viscosity were very similar to what has been observed for the sol-gel transition of polymers. The mechanical properties of blood clot, which were modified by varying the hematocrit and by adding heparin or fibrinogen, were clearly assessed by the transient elastography technique. It is concluded that the shear elasticity probe is an appropriate tool to quantify and follow the sol-gel transition of blood during clotting. (E-mail: guy.cloutier@umontreal.ca) (c) 2006 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.
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