Characterizing thrombus with multiple red blood cell compositions by optical coherence tomography attenuation...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Medical Imaging
• Translational Medicine

Background:

• Embolectomy is a critical emergency procedure for removing blood clots (emboli).
• Accurate assessment of human blood clot composition is vital for selecting optimal interventional strategies.
• Current gold-standard immunostaining methods for clot composition analysis are time-consuming and not suitable for in situ application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential of optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a non-invasive imaging modality for differentiating human blood clot compositions.
• To establish the optical attenuation coefficient derived from OCT as a reliable indicator of clot composition.
• To explore the utility of OCT-derived attenuation coefficients for guiding interventional procedures in a clinical setting.

Main Methods:

• Fifteen human blood clots with varying red blood cell (RBC) compositions (21%–95%) were prepared from healthy human whole blood.
• Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was employed to measure the optical attenuation coefficients of the prepared blood clots.
• Homogeneous gelatin phantom experiments and numerical simulations based on the Lambert-Beer's law were conducted to validate the attenuation coefficient estimation.

Main Results:

• A strong correlation was observed between the optical attenuation coefficients measured by OCT and the red blood cell (RBC) compositions of the human blood clots.
• The optical attenuation coefficient demonstrated high reliability in differentiating between various clot compositions.
• Numerical simulations and phantom experiments confirmed the validity of the attenuation coefficient estimation method.

Conclusions:

• The optical attenuation coefficient measured using OCT is a promising biomarker for characterizing human blood clot composition.
• OCT offers a rapid, in situ imaging modality for assessing clot composition, overcoming limitations of traditional methods.
• This technique has the potential to guide the selection of appropriate interventional devices and improve treatment strategies for embolectomy.