Blood Coagulation Sensing at the Point of Care

We describe a new optical coagulation sensing approach termed Optical Thromboelastography (OTEG) that measures a patient’s coagulation status using a drop of blood. In OTEG, laser speckle intensity fluctuations are analyzed during clotting to measure the viscoelastic properties of blood during coagulation and recover information about multiple coagulation metrics within minutes. This technology addresses the critical unmet need to identify and manage patients with an elevated risk of life-threatening hemorrhage, the major cause of in-hospital preventable death. In addition, this innovation may enable rapid coagulation testing for patients who routinely receive oral anticoagulants to prevent venous and arterial thrombosis, the world’s number one killer.