Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and the Russian National Research Center for Hematology (NRCH) have found a new approach for the prevention of thrombosis.
The study points at the creation of an ultrasonic technique for the monitoring of blood coagulation and thrombi formation inside the human body.
The study revealed the following results:
1. The ultrasonic method used enables the reliable registration of blood coagulation and following the fibrinolytic dissolution of the clots. The method facilitates the qualitative evaluation of the efficiency of various fibrinolytic influences and enables the comparison of different fibrinolytic drugs;
2. The fibrinolytic resistance of clots formed under flow conditions increases significantly over the first few minutes of their formation;
3. An immediate injection of a fibrinolytic drug after the ultrasonic registration of the onset of coagulation is able to prevent the formation of large clots in the experimental system.
The results presented in this paper may open prospects for creating portable or even implantable devices, which would be somewhat similar to insulin pumps currently used in clinical practice. By means of ultrasound, such a device could provide not only the monitoring of blood clotting and fibrinolysis but also active control of these processes.