Ultrasound-based method and related system to evaluate hemostatic function of whole blood

1. A method of evaluating a mechanical property of a sample by adjusting a characteristic of a force applied to the sample, the method comprising using a processor circuit configured or programmed to control a force applicator and to monitor sensor, the method comprising:

using the processor circuit to control the force applicator to apply a force to the sample sufficient to physically displace a portion of the sample using the force applicator;

using the processor circuit to monitor the sensor to measure a strain of the sample in response to the applied force;

using the processor circuit to control the force applicator to adjust a characteristic of the force applied to the sample in response to a measured strain being outside a predetermined range of strain values, wherein the adjusted characteristic is increased or decreased to adjust an induced displacement depending upon whether the measured strain is below or above the predetermined range, respectively; and

using the processor circuit to compute a mechanical property value of the sample resultant from the measured strain of the sample;

wherein the predetermined range includes an upper threshold determined at least to avoid mechanical damage to the sample when the measured strain is below the upper threshold

wherein the force applicator comprises a drive configured to apply a torque to the sample relative to a pin comprising the sensor or the force applicator comprises an ultrasonic transducer coupled to a probe, the probe configured to mechanically contact the sample and configured to oscillate at a resonant frequency that varies in relation to a viscoelastic property of the sample.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein using the processor circuit to control the force applicator to apply the force to the sample includes using the processor circuit to control the force applicator to direct a series of acoustic pulses into the sample to physically displace a portion of the sample, wherein the measuring the strain includes estimating the strain of the sample using sensed echoes returned from a portion of sample in response to at least a portion of the series of acoustic pulses.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

using the processor circuit to control the force applicator to iteratively apply an adjusted force, using the processor circuit to monitor the sensor to measure the strain of the sample in response to the iteratively applied force, and using the processor circuit to control the force applicator to adjust the applied force in response to the measured strain; and

computing the mechanical property value of the sample in response to the iterative application of the adjusted force and resulting from the measured strain.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the mechanical property value is a value of a time-dependent mechanical property.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the sample comprises blood, and wherein the method comprises:

computing a series of mechanical property values in response to the iterative application of the adjusted force and resulting from the measured strain; and

computing a hemostatic characteristic curve from the mechanical property values.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mechanical property comprises a viscoelastic property of the sample.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the viscoelastic property includes one or more of an absolute stiffness or a relative stiffness of the sample.

8. A system for evaluating a mechanical property of a sample by adjusting a characteristic of a force applied to the sample, the system comprising:

a force applicator configured to apply a force to the sample sufficient to physically displace a portion of the sample;

a sensor configured to measure a strain of the sample in response to the applied force;

a processor configured to:

control the force applicator to adjust a characteristic of the force applied to the sample by the force applicator in response to a measured strain being outside a predetermined range of strain values, wherein the adjusted characteristic is increased or decreased to adjust an induced strain depending upon whether the measured strain is below or above the predetermined range, respectively; and

compute a mechanical property value of the sample resultant from the measured strain of the sample;

wherein the predetermined range includes an upper threshold determined at least to avoid mechanical damage to the sample when the measured strain is below the upper threshold;

wherein the force applicator comprises a drive configured to apply a torque to the sample relative to a pin comprising the sensor or the force applicator comprises an ultrasonic transducer coupled to a probe, the probe configured to mechanically contact the sample and configured to oscillate at a resonant frequency that varies in relation to a viscoelastic property of the sample.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the force applicator includes at least one acoustic transducer configured to direct a series of acoustic pulses into the sample to physically displace a portion of the sample, wherein the sensor is configured to estimate the strain of the sample using echoes returned from a portion of sample in response to at least a portion of the series of acoustic pulses.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to:

iteratively apply an adjusted force, measure strain of the sample in response to the iteratively applied force, and adjust the applied force in response to the measured strain; and

compute the mechanical property value of the sample in response to the iterative application of the adjusted force and resulting from the measured strain.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the mechanical property value is a value of a time-dependent mechanical property.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the sample comprises blood, and wherein the processor is configured to:

compute a series of mechanical property values in response to the iterative application of the adjusted force and resulting from the measured strain; and

compute a hemostatic characteristic curve from the mechanical property values.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the mechanical property comprises a viscoelastic property of the sample.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the viscoelastic property includes one or more of an absolute stiffness or a relative stiffness of the sample.

15. The system of claim 8 , wherein the upper threshold corresponds to a specified strain limit.

16. The system of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined range comprises a lower threshold corresponding to a noise threshold for the strain measurement.

17. The system of claim 8 , wherein the characteristic of the force comprises a magnitude of the force.

18. The system of claim 8 , wherein the characteristic of the force comprises a repetition frequency of pulses included in the applied force.

19. The system of claim 8 , wherein the force applicator comprises a drive configured to apply a torque to the sample relative to a pin; and

wherein the sensor includes the pin.

20. The system of claim 8 , wherein the force applicator comprises a transducer coupled to a probe, the probe configured to mechanically contact the sample and configured to oscillate at a resonant frequency that varies in relation to a viscoelastic property of the sample.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the force applicator comprises a drive configured to apply a torque to the sample relative to a pin comprising the sensor.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the force applicator comprises an ultrasonic transducer coupled to a probe, the probe configured to mechanically contact the sample and configured to oscillate at a resonant frequency that varies in relation to a viscoelastic property of the sample.