Evolution of the optical scattering properties of blood plasma during clot formation

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common and serious disease which encompasses deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). DVT is created when a blood clot forms in the deep veins of the leg and when the clot migrates through the bloodstream, to lung arteries, it creates a PE. VTE is the third cardiovascular cause of death overall and is responsible for 30000 annual deaths in Europe. After biological and clinical investigation, nearly half of VTE cases have no known origin (idiopathic VTE). Among the patients developing idiopathic VTE, about 30% of them would have a recurrent thromboembolic event, 70% would not be subjected to any recurrence. A balance must be struck between the risks of recurrent thrombosis if anticoagulant treatment is stopped versus the risks of bleeding associated with continued anticoagulation therapy that can go up to the course of decades. The search for new biomarkers allowing to best stear the treatment of patients is thus of major interest. Recent studies seem to link clot’s structure to a risk of recurrence. The aim of our work is to develop a sensitive optical method, in order to help with VTE patient’s prognosis, measuring the evolution of the scattering coefficient of a plasma during ex vivo clot formation.