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. 2017 Dec;7(Suppl 3):S238–S245. doi: 10.21037/cdt.2017.10.04

Table 1. Summary of animal and clinical studies on venous clot aging using elastography techniques.

Authors Elastography technique Experimental setting Thrombus model Thrombus ages Outcomes
Emelianov et al. (17) Strain In vivo Rat IVC 2, 6, and 9 days Older clots were consistently harder (higher Young’s modulus) and more homogenous than younger ones
Rubin et al. (18) Strain Clinical Lower extremity DVT 25 days and 3 years Chronic clot was more homogenous with strain 10× smaller than vessel wall; subacute clot had strain 3–4× greater than the vessel wall
Xie et al. (19) Strain In vivo Rat IVC 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10 days Strain magnitude progressively decreases as clot ages; model developed that could estimate clot age accurate within 0.8 days
Aglyamov et al. (20) Strain In vivo and ex vivo Rat IVC explanted in gelatin 2 and 9 days Elasticity reconstruction may prove to be a practical adjunct to triplex scanning to detect, diagnose, and stage DVT
Xie et al. (21) Strain In vivo and ex vivo Rat IVC 3, 6, 10, 12, and 14 days Strong agreement between mechanical measurement of Young’s modulus and that measured by ultrasound
Geier et al. (22) Strain Ex vivo Explanted porcine iliac vein 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 days The most pronounced changes in clot elasticity occurred between the 6th and 12th days, P<0.01
Rubin et al. (23) Strain Clinical Lower extremity DVT Acute (mean =5.7 days) and chronic (>8 months) Median normalized strain magnitude for the acute cases was 2.75, with an interquartile range of 2.40 to 3.71, whereas the median normalized strain magnitude for the chronic cases was 0.94, with interquartile range of 0.48 to 1.36
Yi et al. (24) Strain Clinical Lower extremity DVT Various The strain ratio of the chronic thrombosis group and the subacute thrombosis group were higher than that of the acute thrombosis group (P<0.001, <0.05)
Mfoumou et al. (25) Shear wave In vivo and ex vivo Rabbit IJ Every 10 minutes for 2 hours and up to 2 weeks Stagnant blood in the region of interest underwent clotting and progressive hardening with thrombus aging; transition points observed around day 7
Liu et al. (26) Shear wave In vivo and ex vivo Rabbit IVC Every 10 minutes for 2 hours and up to 2 weeks Strain elastography measurements consistent with histological analysis; days 4 and 7 after thrombus induction may represent the transition points for acute, sub-acute and chronic thrombi in rabbit models

IVC, inferior vena cava; DVT, deep venous thrombosis; IJ, internal jugular.