RAPID RESPONSE FROM BMJ.COM

doi:10.1136/bmjusa.01070003

BMJ, doi: 10.1136/bmjusa.01070003, (Published 5 September 2002)

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RAPID RESPONSE FROM BMJ.COM

How many patients are candidates for home treatment of DVT?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

This article originally appeared in BMJ USA

EDITOR $---$ Schwarz et al demonstrate the feasibility of home treatment (HT) for most patients with acute deep vein thrombosis(DVT). These data, along with those reported previously,¹ mainlyregard patients investigated at vascular units where uncomplicatedDVT is usually seen. This population may be different from thatevaluated in the emergency department (ED), where most of thepatients clinically suspected of having acute venous thromboembolism(VTE) are firstly investigated.² In this respect, the ED canbe an appropriate setting not only for detecting acute DVT butalso for fully investigating and identifying patients who maybe suitable forHT.

In the past 23 months, we applied a HT program for acute VTE in 121 consecutive patients with objectively confirmed acuteVTE: 84 with DVT (69.4%) and 37 with pulmonary embolism (PE) (30.5%).³During a short hospitalization (mean 2 hours, SD 1 hour) in theED, patients were screened . . . [Full text of this article]