Don’t do workup for clotting disorder (order hyper-coagulable testing) for patients who develop first episode of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the setting of a known cause.

Rationale and Comments

Lab tests to look for a clotting disorder will not alter treatment of a venous blood clot, even if an abnormality is found. DVT is a very common disorder, and recent discoveries of clotting abnormalities have led to increased testing without proven benefit.

Sponsoring Organizations

Society for Vascular Medicine

Sources

Prospective cohort studies

Disciplines

Hematologic

References

Dalen JE. Should patients with venous thromboembolism be screened for thrombophilia? Am J Med. 2008;121(6):458-63.
Baglin T, et al. Incidence of recurrent venous thromboembo-lism in relation to clinical and thrombophilic risk factors: prospective cohort study. Lancet. 2003;362:523-6.
Ho WK, et al. Risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism in patients with common thrombophilia. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:729-36.
Baglin T, et al. Clinical guidelines for testing for heritable thrombophilia. Br J Haematol. 2010;149:209-20.