Development of a flow-through system to create occluding thrombus.

Occlusive thrombosis accounts for many heart attacks and strokes. These acute events are difficult to catch in patients and animal test methods may be misleading because anti-thrombotic therapeutics often do not cross-react with different species. This paper presents a new flow-through system that leads to rapid occlusive thrombosis in arterial flow conditions. Whole porcine blood is perfused through a tubular test section. The growing thrombus is visualized in real time from early platelet attachment, through accumulation, to occlusion. The progression of flow rate reduction provides a clear distinguishing parameter between thrombus formation and embolization. Thrombus growth rate is a linear function of very high shear rate beyond 40,000 s(-1). The histology of the thrombus reveals predominantly platelet accumulation and growth as a rough surface with tendrils. This flow-through system may be useful for the economic testing of new anti-thrombosis therapies.