Professor Korea University Seoul, Seoul-t'ukpyolsi, Republic of Korea
Background: Since blood viscoelastic characteristic during coagulation has been provided direct information on the hemostatic status, a measurement technique to quantify blood viscoelasticity is very important for the diagnosis of coagulation disorders at clinical environments.
Aims: The objective of the present study is to develop and evaluate an innovative thromboelastography (TEG), which can be easily used at clinical environments.
Methods: We introduce an innovative microfluidic thromboelastography (micro-TEG) that measures the viscoelastic properties of coagulating blood by evaluating temporal oscillations.
Results: When periodic oscillatory pressure is applied, the anticoagulant blood periodically oscillates a constant distance. When blood coagulation begins, the oscillatory distance of blood is gradually decreased and yields a minimum oscillation. If accompanied by lysis, the oscillatory distance tends to re-increase with time. In this micro-TEGT system, we provide clotting times (R and K), maximum change in amplitude (MA), lysis time and Ly 1/2. These indexes show excellent agreement with those of a commercial TEG system.
Conclusion(s): The results of this study suggest that micro-TEG is a useful tool that provides holistic hemostatic properties for blood coagulation studies and clinical diagnosis.