Survey Reveals More Effort Needed to Prevent Thrombosis

A survey of 44 intensive care units or ICUs by Canadian researchers suggests that insufficient care is taken to prevent deep vein thrombosis or DVT and its complications. The results were reported in the December issue of the online journal Critical Care.

DVT is common in hospitalized patients, with routine autopsies showing that 10-25% of all hospital deaths involve clots in the lung, many of which may be the actual cause of death. Because diagnosis of DVT is so difficult, doctors should focus more on prevention strategies, the survey suggests. Conducted by Dr. Deborah Cook of McMaster University (Hamilton, Canada) and colleagues, the survey reveals that many of the strategies known to help prevent the development of DVT are not being widely used. These include the use of support stockings, pneumatic stockings, and treatment with low molecular weight heparin. In fact, 25% of ICU directors reported that graded elastic stocking were never used, while 37.9% reported that they did not use pneumatic stockings.

The study involved 29 directors of ICUs. Dr. Cook concluded that doctors need more education in the latest techniques to reduce the incidence of DVT and that more fundamental research is needed to understand the nature of the condition and how it can be prevented.





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