Heart attack, stroke incidence could be reduced by blood clot-detecting device
A new 3D-imaging diagnostic device could dramatically reduce the rate of heart attacks, strokes and other conditions by helping to identify people at risk of a blood clot, according to one of its developers.
Blood clots can cause any number of health issues, but the new bio-optic device being developed at the Australian National University could detect an imminent and dangerous clot before it happens.
Using a small sample of a patient's blood, developers say the machine can map how platelets in the blood perform when damaged, creating a digital hologram of the microscopic reaction.
It does this by measuring the delay in the amount of time it takes for light to pass through the clot, also known as a thrombus.
Researchers say it is helping to create a profile of what a person's chemistry looks like when they are at risk of a serious clot.
"We actually will be able to build a predictive model where we can look at a person's blood characteristics and how they perform in this device, and it will give us information about what's actually happening in the patient right now," one of the project's leads, Associate Professor Elizabeth Gardiner, said.
"We can also develop a picture of what a person who goes on to form a thrombus looks like now.
"In the future, that will be the basis to say 'if a person sits in this red sector then we need to medicate the person now'."
Professor Gardiner said while such an assessment was currently possible, it was not a real-time evaluation and required a slew of relatively intensive tests.
By contrast, the device she and her colleagues have developed at the John Curtin School of Medical Research will deliver an analysis in minutes and "evaluate rapidly where that person sits on the clotting or bleeding spectrum".
While small blood clots can be beneficial — helping to stop someone from bleeding to death when they get a papercut, for example — in many sick or elderly people, going too far in either direction can cause serious health conditions.
The current course of action with many patients at risk of a dangerous blood clot is to prescribe a blood thinner like warfarin.
Unfortunately, that can have the side effect of excessive bruising and profuse bleeding if the skin is broken.
Professor Gardiner said doctors were currently often restricted to a "one size fits all" approach to these issues, but the new machine would one day help doctors develop a bespoke treatment plan.
"It's a personalised approach," she said.
"There are clear differences in how people respond to a standard injury and … now we need to evaluate specific patient types.
"I would imagine we would be able to reduce the amount of medication."
The bad news? The machine is still too large for regular use in hospitals and doctors' offices.
However, Professor Gardiner's team hopes they can start using it in practical settings in two to three years.