Coagulation Profile and Clot Stiffness Analysis from COVID-19-Positive Patients Using a Contactless Viscoelasticity Testing Technology

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-associated coagulopathy represents a serious complication of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection that can lead to thromboembolic events. Given the large diversity of patient cohorts, personalized patient-oriented treatment is sought with the analysis of different biomarkers and coagulation profiles. The viscoelasticity testing of bilayered materials (VeTBiM) technology has recently been introduced as a contactless, non-destructive method to measure the real-time viscoelasticity of coagulating blood. In this work, this technology was used to characterize the coagulation profile and the clot stiffness (shear storage modulus, G′) of plasma samples from hospitalized patients in the general COVID-19 ward (non-ICU) and in the intensive care unit (ICU). Analyses revealed that non-ICU patients exhibited a more rapid decrease in G′ with blood sampling time than their ICU counterparts. Additionally, the data suggested that coagulation time decreased while the maximum coagulation rate increased as the disease progressed, underscoring the dynamic nature of coagulation in COVID-19 patients. In sum, the VeTBiM technology has demonstrated the potential to provide precise information on the coagulation profile and stiffness of human plasma samples, which may be applied in fundamental studies of coagulopathies, as well as in clinics, to help establish personalized and more effective treatments in life-threatening complications.