Researchers at the University of Tokyo have found a way to observe coagulation activity in the blood without invasive surgery. Their study uses a novel microscope and artificial intelligence (AI) that shows how platelet agglomerations can be tracked in coronary artery disease (CAD) (CAD) to open the door for safer and more personalized treatments.
If you’ve ever cut yourself, you’ll see platelets working—these small blood cells are like emergency repair workers, eager to block damage and stop bleeding. But sometimes, they overreact. In people with heart disease, they can form dangerous clots inside the arteries, resulting in a heart attack or stroke.
“Platelets play a crucial role in heart disease, especially in CAD, because they are directly involved in the involvement of blood clots,” explained Dr. Kazutoshi Hirose, lead author of the study. “To prevent dangerous clots, patients with CAD are often treated with antiplatelet drugs. However, accurately assessing the working status of these drugs in each person remains a challenge, making monitoring platelet activity an important goal for physicians and researchers.”
This challenge prompted Hirose and its collaborators to develop a new system using high-speed optics and artificial intelligence to monitor platelets in motion.
“We used an advanced device called Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) microscope that works like an ultra-high-speed camera that takes a clear picture of blood cells in the flow,” said Yuqi Zhou, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Tokyo. Just as traffic cameras capture every car on the road, our microscope captures thousands of images of blood cells every second. We then use artificial intelligence to analyze these images. The AI can tell if it is looking at a platelet (such as a car), a ball of platelets (such as traffic volume), or even a white blood cell marker, or even a police station (such as a police car).
The team applied this technique to blood samples from more than 200 patients. Their images show that patients with acute coronary syndrome have more platelet aggregate than those with chronic symptoms – supporting the idea that this technology can track the risk of coagulation in real time.
“My scientific curiosity comes from the latest advances in high-speed imaging and artificial intelligence, which has opened up new ways to observe and analyze blood cells in blood cells’ movements,” said Dr. Keisuke Goda, a professor of chemistry at the Tokyo Chemistry Leadership Research Team. “AI can’t’ see more than patterns that the human eye can detect.”
One of the most important findings is that simple blood drawn from the arm (rather than from the arteries of the heart) provides nearly the same information.
“Usually, if doctors want to understand what is going on in the arteries, especially the coronary artery, they need to have invasive surgery, such as inserting a catheter or groin through the wrist to collect blood,” Hirose said. “We found that taking a regular blood sample from the veins of the arm can still provide meaningful information about arterial platelet activity. This is exciting because it makes the process easier, safer, and more convenient.”
The long-term hope is that this technology will help doctors better personalize heart disease treatments.
“Just like some people need painkillers more or less based on their bodies, we found people responding differently to antiplatelet drugs,” Hirose said. “Our technology can help doctors understand how everyone’s platelets are performing in real time.” This means treatments can be adjusted to better adapt to everyone’s needs. ”
“Our research shows that even something as small as blood cells can tell big stories about your health,” Zhou added.
