The central role of platelets in the formation of the primary haemostatic plug as well as in the development of arterial thrombosis is well defined. In general, the molecular events underpinning these processes are broadly similar. Whilst it has long been known that disturbances in blood flow, changes in platelet reactivity and enhanced coagulation reactions facilitate pathological thrombus for...

INTRODUCTION Although dabigatran, a novel oral anti-coagulant, has been approved for the prevention of thromboembolism in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation, the efficacy of dabigatran for the resolution of established intra-cardiac thrombi has not been validated. Herein is describe a case in which dabigatran was effective for thrombus resolution in a patient with a left ventricular...

BACKGROUND Intracoronary thrombus is often problematic during percutaneous coronary intervention. Rinspiration is a new thrombectomy catheter system designed to mechanically disrupt and remove intravascular thrombus. METHODS Rinspiration thrombectomy was performed in 15 patients with angiographically visible thrombus in native coronary arteries (10 cases) and in saphenous grafts (5 cases). In...

To define the sensitivity, specificity and predictive accuracy of two-dimensional echocardiographic detection of left ventricular thrombus, the echocardiograms of 78 patients who had independent proof of the presence or absence of a left ventricular thrombus were interpreted without knowledge of any clinical data. The presence of thrombus was established by autopsy in four patients, by aneurysm...

OBJECTIVE Platelet- and fibrin-dependent thrombus formation is regulated by blood flow and exposure of collagen and tissue factor. However, interactions between these blood-borne and vascular components are not well understood. APPROACH AND RESULTS Here, we developed a method to assess whole-blood thrombus formation on microspots with defined amounts of collagen and tissue factor, allowing de...

BACKGROUND Intracardiac thrombus is a common cause of cardiogenic cerebral ischaemia. Stroke recurrence is high, but thrombus detection with therapeutic intervention can reduce the risk. Accurate detection requires transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE), which is semi-invasive and costly. OBJECTIVE To identify risk factors for cardiac thrombus, enabling selection of patients for TOE and init...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Mechanical thrombectomy with stent retrievers in acute stroke has emerged as a promising new technique, with the highest recanalization rate of the therapeutic procedures available thus far. However, in up to 20% of the cases, mechanical thrombectomy with stent retrievers results in poor angiographic outcomes, with Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction scores ≤2a. The purpo...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether or not the CHA2DS2-VASc score predicts left atrial (LA) thrombus detected on pre-cardioversion transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE). MATERIALS AND METHODS The medical records of patients who had undergone TEE were reviewed to assess the presence of LA thrombus prior to direct-current cardioversion for atrial fibrillation (AF). The CHA2DS2-VASc score was cal...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Targeted ultrasound contrast agents have recently been developed to adhere selectively to specific pathogenic materials such as plaque or thrombus. Administration of such microbubbles has potential to aid transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) detection of emboli and to act as markers for distinguishing one embolic material from another. The purpose of this study was to in...

The role of hemodynamics on platelet thrombus formation was studied in venules and arterioles of the rat mesentery. Thrombus formation was induced by the fluorescent dye/light method for examination of the following factors: 1) the effect of wall shear rate on thrombus initiation, 2) the effect of wall shear rate on the growth of thrombi, and 3) the relation between platelet thrombus initiation...