Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.

Abstract

Heparin is an effective anti-coagulant for the prevention of venous thromboembolism and for the treatment of venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism (Girolami et al., 2003; Hirsh et al., 2004; Shantsila et al., 2009). It is often used for patients with unstable angina and acute myocardial infarction, and for patients who have undergone vascular surgery (Battistelli et al., 2010). The administration of heparin frequently induces a reduction in platelet counts. This phenomenon is called heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) and be classified as either type I or II. To avoid confusion between the syndromes, “HIT type I” has been changed to “non-immune heparin associated thrombocytopenia”, and ‘‘HIT type II’’ is simply called ‘‘HIT’’.