Detecting Circulating Emboli in Patients with Acute Venous Thromboembolism Using in Vivo Photoacoustic Flow Cytometry (PAFC)

Laser beam from the investigational device Phatoacoustic flow cytometry PAFC will be applied to skin and underlying blood vessels. The optical and ultrasound signal will be collected for analysis. On each tested vessel, we will estimate the vessels diameter (using optical or/and ultrasound imaging). The subject's skin pigmentation will be classified as light, medium, or dark. A photoacoustic (PA) contrast will be considered usable for detection of circulating emboli if the photoacoustic signal from the vessels is more than 1.3-fold higher than the photoacoustic signal from surrounding tissue. The device for subjects enrolled on cohort 2 will be completed on day 0 (immediately after venous thromboembolism diagnosis and prior to anticoagulation therapy), day 7 ± 3 days after initiation of anticoagulation therapy, one week ± 3 days after completion of planned anticoagulation therapy and one month ± 3 days after completion of planned anticoagulation therapy. Anticoagulation therapy is part of the patient's normal standard of care and is not part of this study however data from what therapy was received may be captured. D-dimer test will be performed on each time point as part of their normal standard of care however if the D-dimer test is not ordered as part of the standard of care it will be required for the study.. Patients will then be followed in hematology clinic to monitor the venous thromboembolism recurrence every 3 months for one year.