Three cases of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia associated with polytrauma

We present three cases in which patients that had suffered polytrauma developed heparin-induced thrombocytopenia after the start of heparin treatment for thrombosis. All three patients had high injury severity scores and required major surgery. They all started receiving unfractionated heparin for deep venous thrombosis with or without an asymptomatic pulmonary embolism. The patients were clinically diagnosed with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia after their platelet counts fell or exhibited a delayed recovery.

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and the associated thromboses were successfully treated by discontinuing all forms of heparin treatment and administering argatroban followed by warfarin.

Early recognition and clinical diagnosis of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia is necessary for clinicians in cases in which severely injured trauma patients show reductions or delayed recovery in their platelet counts in combination with thrombosis after starting heparin treatment.