The use of dielectric blood coagulometry in the evaluation of coagulability in patients with peripheral arterial disease

BACKGROUND Platelets and coagulation proteins contribute to the development of peripheral arterial disease, especially atherosclerotic disease. Several experimental studies have proven a significant correlation between hypercoagulability and atherosclerosis. We used dielectric blood coagulometry, which was initially designed to evaluate the coagulable status, to examine the coagulability of peripheral arterial disease patients, and investigated the factors that were significantly correlated with the results. METHODS We performed dielectric blood coagulometry in 49 peripheral arterial disease patients. In addition, we recorded the patients' demographic information, including the presence of comorbidities, hemodynamic status, and laboratory findings. To investigate coagulability, we calculated the Tmax value, which indicates the time from recalcification to maximum normalized permittivity. RESULTS The Tmax values of diabetes mellitus patients were significantly lower than those of non-diabetic patients (1 MHz, P = 0.010; 10 MHz, 0.011). Furthermore, the Tmax value was statistically correlated with the activated partial thromboplastin time (1 MHz, ρ = 0.286, P = 0.048; 10 MHz, ρ = 0.301, P = 0.037). CONCLUSIONS Dielectric blood coagulometry detected the hypercoagulable status in diabetes mellitus patients, and reflected their level of coagulability, which was also evaluated by the activated partial thromboplastin time.