title: Clinical characteristics and laboratory testing of patients with suspected HIT: a survey on current practice in 11 university hospitals in France.
abstract: We undertook a survey of French university hospital hematological laboratories to ascertain the clinical characteristics of patients with suspected HIT, the laboratory tests performed, and the therapeutic strategy adopted in current practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  A standardized medical records database for patients with suspected HIT was sent to 19 laboratories. During two months, all consecutive patients for whom a biological test was performed were included.
  
  
  RESULTS
  169 patients were included, 27 (16%) patients having a final diagnosis of HIT. At the time HIT was suspected, the heparin duration and the level of thrombocytopenia were similar in HIT- positive and HIT-negative groups. The use of unfractionated heparin, a therapeutic heparin dose regimen and the presence of thrombotic complications were significantly more frequent in HIT-positive patients. When the heparin dose regimen was taken into account, only thrombotic complications under a therapeutic dose regimen were significantly increased in HIT-positive patients. Eighty-six percent of patients presented at least one alternative diagnosis of thrombocytopenia without significant difference between the two groups. Laboratory tests were performed after a mean of 0.3days and mainly consisted of antigen assays. At the time HIT was suspected, heparin was stopped in 56 (33%) patients, being replaced mainly by danaparoid. Only three laboratories declared they usually received all the necessary clinical information to establish the likelihood of HIT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In current practice in France, the clinical probability of HIT is rarely established, leading to systematic requests for laboratory HIT tests.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Hematology, Hôpital Cardiologique-Haut Lévêque, CHU Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bidet
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tardy Poncet
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Desprez
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Maistre
authors.forename: Emilie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Presles
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lecompte
authors.forename: Cecile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lavenu-Bombled
authors.forename: Marie Genevieve
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Huisse
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morange
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Racadot
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mouton
authors.forename: Lelia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grunebaum
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pouplard
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tardy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection; D003871:Dermatan Sulfate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006493:Heparin / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006497:Heparan Sulfate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates; D003871:Dermatan Sulfate; D006493:Heparin; D006497:Heparan Sulfate; C035838:danaparoid