Efficacy of using thromboelastography to detect coagulation function and platelet function in patients with acute cerebral infarction

Abstract

Thromboelastography (TEG) is commonly used to predict coagulation state in patients with active bleeding. However, the correlation between TEG parameters and conventional tests in patients with cerebrovascular disease (CVD) remains unexplored. Here, we assessed the TEG values and their correlation with conventional tests in patients with acute cerebral infarction. Eighty-eight patients with acute cerebral infarction were enrolled from the Department of Neurology of Suzhou Medical School. Thirty healthy controls were enrolled from the preventive care department in the same hospital who were taking a physical examination. TEG 5000 thromboelastogram system was used to obtain TEG parameters. The automatic blood coagulation analyzer was used to measure the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), D-Dimer (DD) and fibrinogen (FIB) and platelet function. Among five TEG parameters, the R and K value decreased while MA value, alpha angle and CI value increased in patient group when compared with the healthy controls. The correlation between TEG parameters and conventional tests including DD, FIB, and platelet function are consistent with the high coagulation state in the patient group. Our results demonstrate that TEG parameters are sensitive indicators of high coagulation state in patients with acute cerebral infarction.

Keywords: CVD; Coagulation function; Correlation; Platelet function; TEG.