Medical Express In patients with long COVID, a new study has revealed a structural association between circulating microclots and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). This finding suggests the existence of underlying physiological interactions between microclots and NETS that, when dysregulated, may become pathogenic. The work is published in the Journal of Medical Virology.
What are microclots?
The term microclots, recently adopted in the scientific literature, refers to abnormal clumps of blood clotting proteins circulating in a patient’s bloodstream. The concept was introduced in 2021 by Prof Resia Pretorius from Stellenbosch University’s Department of Physiological Sciences, when they found the abnormal presence of such microclots in the blood samples of COVID-19 patients. This discovery generated widespread attention during the pandemic due to its potential role in COVID-related coagulopathies.