A Clearinghouse for Information about Blood Clots (DVT/)PE) and Clotting Disorders (thrombophilia) provided as a public service by the University of North Carolina Blood Research Center

Author: Stephan Moll

  • Pregnancy Loss and Clotting Disorders

    How common is pregnancy loss? What are the causes? Pregnancy loss (= miscarriage) in the general population is common. Most losses occur in the first trimester. As many as 5 % of women have 2 or more early losses; 1-2 % have 3 or more early losses [ref 1]. Well established risk factors for pregnancy…

  • Coumadin Clinics – Finding One Near You

    If you are on warfarin (Coumadin®, Jantoven®) you need to be followed in a structured way to optimize your warfarin therapy and minimize the risk for bleeding and clotting. The “thinness” of your blood needs to be determined on a regular basis with a test called INR (International Normalized Ratio; also referred to as PT, protime,…

  • Pradaxa – What Your Physician/Hospital Wants to Know

    If you are considering to start therapy with the new oral “blood thinner” Pradaxa®, there are a few safety nets that your local hospital and physician may want to establish to make therapy as safe as possible for you. Issues to be addressed are (a) dosing, (b) management of major bleeding, (c) interruption of therapy…

  • Incidentally Discovered Blood Clots

    General comments CT scans and MRI scans are often done in medicine, for a variety of reasons.  Every so often such a scan will detect a blood clot in a patient who has no symptoms from the clot. This is referred to as an “incidental VTE”  (VTE = venous thromboembolism, i.e. clot in a vein)…

  • Pradaxa – Interruption for Colonoscopy, Dental Work, Surgery, etc.

    When to stop the drug – General comments If you are on Pradaxa® (Dabigatran) you may need interruption of therapy for dental work, a medical procedure such as colonoscopy, or minor or major surgical procedure. As to when exactly to take the last dose of Pradaxa® before the procedure depends on (a) how big a…

  • DVT and PE: How Long to Treat with “Blood Thinners”

    What Kind of Clot did You Have? If you have had a blood clot in your legs or your lung (pulmonary embolism=PE), you will wonder how long you should stay on a “blood thinner”. The decision depends on a number of factors which will be discussed below.

  • Warfarin-Induced Skin Necrosis

    How common is it? Warfarin-induced skin necrosis is a rare complication of warfarin (coumadin®, Jantoven®) therapy. It occurs in approximately 1 of 10,000 patients treated with warfarin. What is it? “Necrosis” means “dead tissue”. Patients with warfarin-induced skin necrosis develop very painful skin areas, most commonly in the breasts, next commonly in buttocks, thighs and…

  • Purple Toe Syndrome

    Warfarin can, in rare instances, cause violaceous painful discoloration of the toes and the sides of the feet, referred to as the “purple toe syndrome” 1 – see photograph below. Occasionally, the hands can also be involved and a net-like skin rash on abdomen and legs (= livedo reticularis) can occur. This typically happens within the…