Share

Most patients can be treated safely at home for deep vein thrombosis

Eligibility for home treatment of deep vein thrombosis: prospective study

Editorial: Routine home treatment of deep vein thrombosis

New, effective therapies for acute deep vein thrombosis mean that most patients do not need to be admitted to hospital, according to a study in this week's BMJ. These results challenge the traditional notion that these patients must be treated in hospital and adds to the evidence that home treatment of deep vein thrombosis is now routinely feasible.

Between November 1998 and August 1999, 117 outpatients presenting to the vascular diagnostics unit of the University Hospital Dresden in Germany were diagnosed as having acute deep vein thrombosis. Of these, 92 received home treatment - that is, they were not admitted at all. Those who did require admission depended mainly on factors to do with infrastructure rather than medical reasons, say the authors, and no serious complications were noted in patients treated at home.

However, several caveats must be borne in mind when applying these results to everyday practice, warn consultant haematologists, John Eikelboom and Ross Baker, in an accompanying editorial. For instance, successful home treatment requires adequate resources to enable rapid clinical assessment, diagnostic testing and home support when needed. They also point out the need for education of patients undergoing home treatment and call for routine monitoring of the safety and effectiveness of home treatment programmes in individual centres.

Contacts:

[Paper]: Thomas Schwarz, Clinical Research Fellow, Division of Vascular Medicine, University Hospital, Dresden, Germany Email: tho_schwarz@hotmail.com

[Editorial]: John Eikelboom, Consultant Haematologist, Department of Haematology, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Australia Email: john.eikelboom@health.wa.gov.au

Share

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.