Clinical characteristics and laboratory testing of patients with suspected HIT: A survey on current practice in 11 university hospitals in France

SummaryWe 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.MethodsA 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.Results169 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 0.3 days 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.ConclusionIn current practice in France, the clinical probability of HIT is rarely established, leading to systematic requests for laboratory HIT tests.