Abstract
There is a clinical need for pragmatic approaches to measure integrated hemostatic
reactions in whole blood rapidly, using small volumes of blood. The authors have applied
T2 magnetic resonance (T2MR) to assess coagulation reactions based on partitioning
of red blood cells and proteins that occurs during fibrin formation and platelet-mediated
clot contraction. T2MR is amenable to measuring clotting times, individual coagulation
factors, and platelet function. T2MR also revealed a novel “hypercoagulable” signature
characterized by fibrin clots almost insusceptible to fibrinolysis that surround tessellated
arrays of polyhedral erythrocytes (“third peak”). This signature, which develops under
conditions associated with intense clot formation in vitro, may help identify patients
at risk of developing thrombosis and for monitoring antithrombotic therapies in the
future.
Keywords
hemostasis - fibrin - T2 magnetic resonance - platelet function
