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Pathogenesis of HIT
• In select patient populations (e.g.,
cardiac surgery) exposed to heparin,
up to 50% can develop heparindependent
antibodies.[24] Up to 5% of
all patients exposed to heparin
develop HIT.[21] Thromboembolic
complications have been reported to
occur in half to two thirds of patients
with HIT, including those with and
without thrombosis at
diagnosis.[3,21,25] The thrombotic
complications of heparin-induced
induced
thrombocytopenia (HIT) can be
catastrophic (see Table 2).[7,10,18,21]
Clinical data have shown that
approximately 20% of patients with
thrombotic complications lose a
limb, and about 30% die without
appropriate alternative nonheparin
therapy.[10,18]