The Clinical Utility of Thrombelastography in Guiding Prophylaxis of Venous Thromboembolism Following Trauma

Summary

This study plans to learn more about how to prevent blood clots in the veins of your extremities. You are at risk of forming these clots after a major injury and when you have had surgery and are hospitalized on bed rest. Usually, patients in the SICU at Denver Health who are at risk for blood clots receive preventative treatment with a FDA-approved medicine called Fragmin. Fragmin is intended to prevent blood clots from forming but, with the way it is generally used, some patients may still develop blood clots. All patients treated with Fragmin to prevent blood clots at Denver Health, currently receive the same Fragmin dose. This treatment is called the "standard of care". So far, in the US, there has not been a commonly available test that can tell us: * if the standard dose of Fragmin is enough to prevent blood clots for everyone, or * if different patients need different doses, or * if other blood clot preventing medicines, that work in a different way, should be used in addition to Fragmin. The ability of your blood to clot and the strength of the clot formed can be described by a FDA-approved blood test called thrombelastography, referred to as TEG. TEG may provide us with answers to each of the questions above. Our preliminary data indicate that it is helpful in assessing both clotting and bleeding tendencies and may prove useful in guiding treatment for the prevention of blood clots. The aim of this study is to determine if a treatment plan using Fragmin, and, if indicated, one or two additional FDA-approved medicines called anti-platelet drugs, guided by the results of TEG testing, may be better at preventing blood clots than our current standard of care.

Timeline

Start

2010-03

Primary completion

2011-12

Completion

2011-12

Drugs

Indications