17 Apr Prophylactic Anticoagulation for Venous Thrombosis In Critically Ill Patients

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Craig M. Lilly, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Departments of Medicine, Anesthesiology, and Surgery, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Clinical and Population Health Research Program,
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Worcester, MA

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?

Dr. Lilly: Critically ill adults with clinicians that chose to manage them with prophylactic anticoagulation were more likely to survive their hospitalization than patients that received venous thrombosis prophylaxis with mechanical devices or were not treated with venous thrombosis prophylaxis.

MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?

Dr. Lilly: Patients that were managed by clinicians who chose to use mechanical device venous thrombosis prophylaxis had higher in hospital mortality risk than patients managed without prophylaxis.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Lilly: Critically ill adults that do not have contraindications to anticoagulation should receive pharmacological prophylaxis for VTE.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Lilly: We recommend that a means of fostering a randomized interventional study of the relation of the alternative forms of venous thrombosis prophylaxis to in hospital mortality for critically ill adults be created.
 Citation:

Thrombosis Prophylaxis and Mortality Risk among Critically Ill Adults
Craig M. Lilly, M.D.; Xinggang Liu, M.D., Ph.D.; Omar Badawi, Pharm.D. MPH.; Christine S. Franey, MPH; Ilene H. Zuckerman, Pharm. D, Ph.D
Chest. 2014. doi:10.1378/chest.13-2160

Last Updated on April 17, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD