Hand-Carried Ultrasonic Coagulation Function Profiler

Recent statistics suggest that up to one-third of military trauma victims have a blood coagulation defect that prevents traditional hemorrhage control measures from working. Unfortunately, clinical evidence of coagulopathy can be difficult to observe, while standard laboratory tests for coagulation function may take 30–60 min from blood sampling to availability of results even in ideal clinical settings. Viscoelastic measurements such as thromboelastography (TEG) provide a global test of coagulation function that has been shown to better correlate to risk of blood transfusion in trauma patients, and are more amenable to point of care testing, than laboratory tests. Further miniaturization of this technology is needed, however, for far-forward combat casualty care. In this Phase I, Luna will show that quantitative ultrasound can provide equivalent measurements of coagulation dynamics to the TEG using electronics amenable to a handheld device. This research, conducted in conjunction with Virginia Commonwealth University, will also show that ultrasonic particle sizing technology in development at Luna can provide additional data on the composition of blood relating to platelet count and activation using the same electronics and hardware.