Press releases

Released November 19, 1998
Yale-New Haven Hospital news release

Yale-New Haven Tests New Drug Treatment for Blood Clots in Veins

For more information, call 203-688-2488 or E-mail Ken Best.

A new treatment for patients with blood clots in their veins is being tested at Yale-New Haven Hospital, in many cases avoiding a week-long hospital stay.

The treatment involves self-injection of enoxaparin, an improved version of the anti-clotting drug heparin for several days, before adding the oral anti-clot medicine, warfarin. The success of this drug combination has allowed patients with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) to be treated as outpatients, according to Yale-New Haven experts.

"Our patients using this new drug therapy have done very well clinically and have expressed satisfaction with the care," said Lisa Stump, a registered pharmacist at Yale-New Haven who coordinated the development of the treatment. "We are seeing patients go home directly from the emergency room."

DVT is a painful condition resulting from blood clots which have formed in the veins. If not treated appropriately, these clots could travel to the lungs, develop into a pulmonary embolism and cause breathing and/or cardiac complications

Standard treatment for DVT patients has been to admit the patient to the hospital for about a week for continuous intravenous infusion of heparin, with the addition of warfarin. The combination of the two drugs also requires frequent blood tests and dosage adjustments which has made it necessary to hospitalize patients for treatment.

The use of enoxaparin is much simpler and provides the opportunity for two injections each day, which can be done by most DVT patients in a manner similar to the self-injection of insulin by diabetic patients. Enoxaparin treatment requires little or no laboratory tests, though warfarin therapy is monitored by blood tests. In some cases, a visiting nurse might provide the treatment. Both options allow the patient to be treated at home

Patients who have been treated for DVT are discharged with a kit that includes the drugs, informational booklet, video, needle disposal unit and alcohol swabs. A hospital pharmacist makes follow-up calls to the patient to answer questions or concerns.

This combination drug therapy has been used in other medical centers and in Canada with safe results. The Food & Drug Administration is reviewing this new treatment for DVT and is expected to approve it sometime in December.

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