As we all know, sickle cell disease doesn’t mean that you have a communist remnant floating around in your body– it is a disease with serious complications and may be one of the hardest to treat. This month’s Transfusion talks about current “research [that is] focused [on] the importance of whole blood viscosity measured across a wide range of shear rates in determining the optimum level of transfusion for sickle cell disease patients.”
How was the research conducted? Using the Rheolog™ of course!
Rheologics has introduced a research device for measuring the biophysical properties of circulating blood. The Rheolog™measures the rheological properties of whole blood in an environment identical to blood flow in the human vascular system. By combining dual-riser tube technology, microprocessors, and proprietary algorithms, Rheologics’ innovative scanning-capillary viscometer captures a patient’s blood viscosity over the range of shear rates in a cardiac cycle. The Rheolog™ is the first device of its kind that enables clinicians and researchers to obtain a complete and accurate whole blood viscosity profile in real-time at the point-of-care or in the lab. The device’s proprietary disposable kit eliminates the need for clean-up, the potential for contamination or operational errors. The current beta-version is being re-packaged for mass commercialization.
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