Researchers at Emory Healthcare Have Reported New Data on Venous Thromboembolism (Pharmacologic Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis In Patients With Nontraumatic Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Requiring an External Ventricular Drain).

Researchers at Emory Healthcare conducted a retrospective chart review to determine the frequency of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and secondary intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) in patients with nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) requiring an external ventricular drain (EVD) who received pharmacologic prophylaxis with enoxaparin or unfractionated heparin (UFH). The study included 868 patients with SAH who required an EVD, with 627 receiving enoxaparin, 114 receiving UFH, and 127 not receiving pharmacologic prophylaxis. The results showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of VTE or secondary ICH between the enoxaparin, UFH, and no prophylaxis groups. However, achieving higher steady-state target anti-Xa levels with enoxaparin may be associated with a lower incidence of VTE without increasing the risk of secondary ICH. [Extracted from the article]