Abstract
It was demonstrated that pharmacological alteration of coagulating whole blood can influence the mechanical properties of the clot and can be assessed rheologically. The clot viscoelasticity was measured in a Weissenberg Rheogoniomcter as a function of the concentration of anticoagulant sodium heparin. The storage component of the elastic modulus was seen to be significantly and reproducibly lowered by heparin. Variation between donors was found to be minimized by adjustment of hematocrit, platelet count, and fibrinogen content to common values.
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