Background: Superficial vein thrombosis (SVT) of the lower limbs is associated with an increased risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE), but long-term risksbeyond three years are largely unknown.
Aims: To identify the frequency of recurrent VTE in patients with lower limb SVT during a follow-up through five years following initial presentation.
Methods: Consecutive patients with SVT were treated with subcutaneous tinzaparin (Innohep™, LEOPharma, Denmark). Patients were stratified into three groups by the duration of treatment: group 1 (≤30 days) and group 2 (31-60 days), which run in parallel and patients received mostly an intermediate or therapeutic dose and also a subsequent group 3 where patients received an intermediate dose (131iu/Kg) for 90 days. The composite primary endpoint of this prospective cohort study was recurrent VTE, defined as occurrence of clinically evident SVT recurrence, deep-vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism.
Results: A total of147patients with a median age of 58.2 years were treated(group 1, n=60, group 2, n=38 and group 3, n=49).Four patients died, two were lost to follow-up andthe remaining 141 patients were followed-up for five years. Recurrent VTE occurring in 27/147 patients(five-year rate 18.5%, Fig. 1), including 18 events of recurrent SVT, 7 events of deep-vein thrombosis and 2 events of pulmonary embolism. Fifteen events occurred early (during the first three months) and the remaining 12 late.Five-year recurrent VTE-freerates were significantly better with prolonged anticoagulation for the initialSVT event. These rates were71.5% in group 1, 84.1%in group 2 and 91.7% in group 3 (Fig. 2, p for trend = 0.005).
Conclusion(s): Long-term recurrent VTE rates in patients presenting with SVT are not negligible, supporting the notion that SVT is not a benign disease. Anticoagulation for three months, a duration similar with VTE, may improve patient outcomes.
Image 1
Recurrent VTE five-year rate is 18.5%, occurring in 27/147 patients .
Image 2
Five-year recurrent VTE-free rates for group 1, group 2 and 3, p for trend = 0.005.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Papageorgopoulou C, Nikolakopoulos K, Papadoulas S, Kakkos S. Long-term results of tinzaparin for the treatment of superficial vein thrombosis of the lower limbs. [abstract]. https://abstracts.isth.org/abstract/long-term-results-of-tinzaparin-for-the-treatment-of-superficial-vein-thrombosis-of-the-lower-limbs/. Accessed October 1, 2023.« Back to ISTH 2022 Congress
ISTH Congress Abstracts - https://abstracts.isth.org/abstract/long-term-results-of-tinzaparin-for-the-treatment-of-superficial-vein-thrombosis-of-the-lower-limbs/