Optical properties of human blood during coagulation were studied using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and the parameter of clotting time derived from the 1/e light penetration depth (d1/e) versus time was developed in our previous work. In this study, in order to know if a new OCT test can characterize the blood-coagulation process under different treatments in vitro, the effects of two different activators (calcium ions and thrombin) and anticoagulants, i.e., acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, a well-known drug aspirin) and melagatran (a direct thrombin inhibitor), at various concentrations are evaluated. A swept-source OCT system with a 1300 nm center wavelength is used for detecting the blood-coagulation process in vitro under a static condition. A dynamic study of d1/e reveals a typical behavior due to coagulation induced by both calcium ions and thrombin, and the clotting time is concentration-dependent. Dose-dependent ASA and melagatran prolong the clotting times. ASA and melagatran have different effects on blood coagulation. As expected, melagatran is much more effective than ASA in anticoagulation by the OCT measurements. The OCT assay appears to be a simple method for the measurement of blood coagulation to assess the effects of activators and anticoagulants, which can be used for activator and anticoagulant screening.

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Our previous work demonstrated that an optical coherence tomography (OCT) technique was able to characterize the whole blood coagulation process. The 1/e light penetration depth (d(1/e)) derived from the profiles of reflectance versus depth was developed for detecting the whole blood coagulation process in static state. To consider the effect of blood flow, in the present study, d(1/e) versus time from the coagulating porcine blood circulated in a mock flow loop with various steady laminar flows at mean flow speed in the range from 5 to 25  mm/s. The variation of d(1/e) was used to represent the change of blood properties during coagulation in different hematocrits (HCT) ranging from 25% to 55%, velocities from 5 to 25  mm/s, and tubing sizes from 0.9 to 2 mm. The results showed that there were positive correlations between coagulation time (t(c)) and HCT, velocity, and tubing size, respectively. In addition, the coagulation rate (S(r)) was decreased with the increase of HCT, velocity, and tubing size. This study testified that HCT, flow velocity, and tubing size were substantial factors affecting the backscattering properties during flowing blood coagulation. Furthermore, OCT has the potential to represent the process of flowing blood coagulation with proper parameters.