Single scan to detect blood clot
Peter Caravan at the Martinos Centre for Biomedical Imaging at the Massachusetts General Hospital said that if a person suffered a stroke due to a blood clot, the risk for a second stroke is very high. The initial blood clot can break and cause more strokes if it is not quickly found and treated.
The treatment varies depending on the location of the clot; while some respond to well to drugs, others are better dealt with surgery.
Currently patients are being scanned multiple times by multiple techniques in order to locate a clot. Caravan and team sought a method that could detect blood clots anywhere in the body with a single whole-body scan.
In the study, Caravan’s team developed a blood clot probe by attaching a radionuclide to the peptide. The researchers first analysed how well each probe bound to fibrin in a test tube and then, they studied how well the probe detected blood clots in rats. Caravan said that the probes all had a similar affinity to fibrin in vitro, but, in rats, their performances were quite different.
Caravan’s group is hoping to start testing the probe in human patients soon, but it could take up to five years of research before it is approved for routine use in humans.
Written by: Dr. Ajay Sati.
