A comparative study into the effects of venous and arterial blood on clot microstructure in critically unwell patients. Assessment of the diagnostic potential of a biomarker of haemostasis

Suresh Pillai; Vanessa Evans; Gareth Davies; Matthew J Lawrence; Janet Whitley; Ceri E Battle; Phylip R Williams; Keith Morris; Phillip A Evans

doi:10.1177/17511437211060154

A comparative study into the effects of venous and arterial blood on clot microstructure in critically unwell patients. Assessment of the diagnostic potential of a biomarker of haemostasis

J Intensive Care Soc. 2023 May;24(2):224-226. doi: 10.1177/17511437211060154. Epub 2021 Dec 7.

Authors

Suresh Pillai^{1

2

3}, Vanessa Evans^{1

3}, Gareth Davies¹, Matthew J Lawrence^{1

3}, Janet Whitley^{1

3}, Ceri E Battle^{1

2}, Phylip R Williams⁴, Keith Morris⁵, Phillip A Evans^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Welsh Centre for Emergency Medicine Research, Emergency Department, Swansea Bay University Health Board, Swansea, UK.
² Ed. Major Critical Care Unit, Morriston Hospital, Swansea, UK.
³ Medical School, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
⁴ College of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
⁵ School of Applied Science, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, UK.

Abstract

Blood for coagulation analysis can be sampled from the arterial or venous system in intensive care units (ICU). The determination of clot microstructure and strength by fractal analysis (d_f) gives valuable information in a range of vascular haemostatic disease and sepsis. We aimed to determine if d_f could be measured equally and comparatively in arterial or venous blood, and 45 critically ill patients in an ICU were recruited. d_f was found to be readily measured in arterial blood with results comparable to those in venous blood and that add value of d_f as a potential marker of haemostasis in these patients.

Keywords: Clot microstructure; arterial blood; critical illness; venous blood.