Hematology
Clinical discussions on blood disorders, coagulation, transfusion medicine, and hematologic malignancies.
Recent Discussions
How do you follow pulmonary embolism patients who have completed anticoagulation?
3 months after sustaining an acute PE, I asked the patients if they were back to their pre-PE level of functional capacity. If they are not, i.e. if they remain dyspneic, I get an echocardiogram and a VQ scan. If the echo during the acute PE shows RV strain or evidence of pulmonary hypertension, I r...
Regarding CVST, what protocol of heparin dosing do you regularly use and does it change depending on clot burden/ICH status?
There is very limited randomized evidence for the use of anticoagulation in any form for CVST. We often rely on extrapolations from data on the acute management of DVT in the leg and pulmonary embolus. We are mainly limited to cohort studies and small RCTs. Recent trials in this area include the TO-...
Would you consider long term avatrombopag use in patients with cirrhosis requiring higher platelet counts for medical therapy?
In general, no, I would not use long-term avatrombopag in patients with cirrhosis requiring higher platelet counts for medical therapy due to the perceived thrombotic risk and hemostatic abnormalities of patients with liver disease.One thing to note in assessing the risk of long-term TPO mimetic the...
What is your recommended long term management of extensive dural venous sinus thrombosis in an otherwise healthy young patient?
From a Vascular Neurology perspective, there are two considerations when faced with patients with venous sinus thrombosis. First is the status of the intracranial venous circulation and whether or not there has been adequate reconstitution of venous outflow, either through recanalization or collater...
How would you structure your monitoring for a low-risk leukemic TP53-negative mantle cell lymphoma with 5% MCL cells detected in both peripheral blood and bone marrow, mild splenomegaly, and no lymphadenopathy or B symptoms?
This appears to be the prototypical indolent patient for whom observation would be ideal. For these patients, there isn’t a truly validated period of monitoring. I have typically extrapolated from follow-up from other chronic diseases, with a plan to extend follow-up intervals over several years. In...
Do you use direct oral anticoagulants to treat port-a-cath related VTE in patients with an active malignancy?
The initial trials that established DOACs as effective and safe in most patients with cancer-associated thrombosis (Agnelli et al., PMID 32223112, Planquette et al., PMID 34627853) only included patients with lower-extremity DVT or PE but clearly showed equivalence to low-molecular weight heparin (w...
How to approach reversal of TNK in hemorrhagic conversion of ischemic stroke?
There is no specific "reversal agent" for tenecteplase. Once administered, the thrombolytic effect will persist until the drug is fully metabolized and any residual plasmin has been cleared by alpha-2-antiplasmin. So, perhaps the first question is what can you do if there is an acute bleeding event ...
Do you screen for VWD in all women with menorrhagia severe enough to cause iron deficiency anemia?
Yes, testing vWF is needed in this situation of severe menometrorrhagia. Excessive menstrual bleeding, especially when severe enough to cause anemia, is a common presenting symptom of vWD in women. The testing should be done as part of a comprehensive workup for gynecologic etiologies and other coag...
What would your next line of treatment be for a patient with Hb SC with history of recurrent VOC and new bone infarct who is already on hydroxyurea and phlebotomy?
HbSC disease is the stepchild of sickle hemoglobinopathies with almost no studies of its treatment, so that any recommendation is not data based. One might consider adding crizanlizumab that blocks red cell-endothelial cell adherence. Each treatment group of the crizanlizumab study that led to its F...
Is it reasonable to treat a solitary plasmacytoma of the lung parenchyma with SBRT?
I have only treated one patient with solitary plasmacytoma of the lung over the past 15 years of doing lung SBRT. It is an extremely rare and unusual disease presentation for myeloma. Given the radiosensitivity of myeloma, I opted for 30 Gy in 5 fractions, which resulted in a completed response in t...