Concise report
Prevention of symptomatic thrombosis with short term (low
molecular weight) heparin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis after
hip or knee replacement
H A E M van Heerevelda, R F J M Laana, F H J van den Hoogena, M C de Waal Malefijtc, I R O Novakovab, L B A van de Puttea
a Department of
Rheumatology, University Hospital, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, b Department of
Haematology, University Hospital, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, c Department of Orthopaedics,
University Hospital, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Correspondence to: Dr H A E M van Heereveld, Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Nijmegen, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. H.vanHeereveld{at}reuma.azn.nl
Accepted for publication 12 February 2001
The need for prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) after
total hip or knee replacement is obvious. However, the optimal regimen
to achieve this remains to be defined. In patients with rheumatoid
arthritis (RA) long term coumarins may not be necessary owing to the
use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). 103 patients in
whom 151 surgical procedures were performed (55 hip and 96 knee
prostheses) were treated only with short term subcutaneous heparin.
NSAIDs were used daily in 85% of the patients, and they were continued
after hospital discharge. Only one patient developed symptomatic
deep venous thrombosis during one year follow up. Bleeding
complications were seen in 20/151 (13%) of the surgical procedures, all clinically judged as minor, and recovery was not delayed except in one case. Short term (low molecular weight) heparin
appears to be an adequate, simple, and safe method for prevention of
symptomatic VTE in patients with RA after knee or hip replacement,
though further studies are necessary to confirm these preliminary findings.
© 2001 by Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
NURMOHAMED, M T, DIJKMANS, B A C
(2001). Prevention of post-discharge venous thromboembolism in patients with rheumatoid arthritis undergoing knee or hip arthroplasty: a continuing matter of debate. Ann Rheum Dis
60: 905-907
[Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
-
Immunology (including allergy)
-
Connective tissue disease
-
Degenerative joint disease
-
Musculoskeletal syndromes
-
Rheumatoid arthritis
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
