A comparative study into the effects of venous and arterial blood on clot microstructure in critically unwell patients. Assessment of the diagnostic potential of a biomarker of haemostasis.

Blood for coagulation analysis can be sampled from the arterial or venous system in intensive care units (ICU). The determination of clot microstructure and strength by fractal analysis (d f ) gives valuable information in a range of vascular haemostatic disease and sepsis. We aimed to determine if d f could be measured equally and comparatively in arterial or venous blood, and 45 critically ill patients in an ICU were recruited. d f was found to be readily measured in arterial blood with results comparable to those in venous blood and that add value of d f as a potential marker of haemostasis in these patients.