Management and outcomes of axial isolated distal deep venous thrombosis (IDDVT) at North Shore Hospital, New Zealand: A Retrospective Audit.
Intern Med J. 2014 Dec 17;
Authors: Li A, Woulfe T, Rolfe-Vyson V, Rowland V, Simpson D, Merriman E
Abstract
BACKGROUND: It is standard of care to treat proximal vein deep vein thrombosis (DVT) for a minimum of 3 months. Conversely, management of isolated distal deep vein thrombosis (IDDVT) is controversial, with options including observation and repeat ultrasound scan within one week to detect and anticoagulate those with proximal propagation, or anticoagulation for periods of up to 3 months.
OBJECTIVE: The aim was to assess the rates of proximal propagation and venous thromboembolism (VTE) recurrence within 3 months of diagnosis of IDDVT, and to examine how the duration of treatment might influence this.
PATIENTS/METHODS: Study patients were identified by retrospective audit of data from the North Shore Hospital VTE database. All patients presenting with established axial vein distal DVT from July 2007-June 2012 were included. A 6 week treatment duration cut-off was used to separate the treatment arms (<6 weeks versus 6 weeks versus >6 weeks), and Fisher's exact or Pearson's chi-squared tests were used to assess between-group comparisons.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: 507 patients were included in the study, mean age 59.7 years; 53% female. There were three cases of proximal propagation, all occurring in those receiving <6 weeks treatment. There were six VTE recurrences, three in the <6 week and three in the ≥6 week treatment groups respectively. Malignancy was the only significant predictor of VTE recurrence (P=0.001). In conclusion, a six-week duration of anticoagulation appears to be an effective and safe treatment for isolated axial distal DVT, with low rates of VTE recurrence and proximal propagation.
PMID: 25521797 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]