Blood coagulation detector may help in recognize stroke risk in AF patients

Atrial fibrillation (AF) causes an irregular and sometimes fast heart rate, and is a common risk factor for stroke. To estimate this risk in AF patients and determine the requirement for anticoagulation therapy, the CHADS2 predictive score is used. Because some parts of this score are also associated with atherosclerosis risk and increased blood coagulability, a high score has been proposed as linked to hypercoagulability (an increased tendency for blood clotting) in both AF and non-AF patients. However, this association has not been fully investigated, partly owing to the lack of a sensitive means of detection.
A research team from TMDU used a highly sensitive technique to measure small changes in blood coagulation, and found hypercoagulability in non-AF patients with high CHADS2 scores. The study was recently reported in PLOS ONE

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