Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia is often simply called HIT or HITT. It can lead to a stroke, heart attack, deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. Although the blood thinner / anticoagulant heparin has been used by doctors and surgeons for many years, the risk of HITT is more common than most people think – but entirely preventable. So, what is it and how does it occur?

What is HITT?

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) can be with or without thrombosis – which is the formation of a blood clot. If it is with thrombosis, it's referred to as HITT. Basically, it's the development of low platelet counts in the blood due to the administration of heparin, which is a blood thinner or an anticoagulant, and can lead to a stroke, heart attack, deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism.

How and when does it occur?

Doug Kreis, a Florida products liability attorney whose firm represents those injured due to HITT, explained how and when it occurs:

When an individual is going into a surgery during which they will be given heparin to prevent blood clotting, a physician who is following the standard of care should do some initial testing on an individual to see if they have antibodies sufficient to prevent a thrombotic event.

Unfortunately, what often happens – particularly in smaller hospitals and rural settings – is that the hospital staff, physicians and surgeons do not test a patient sufficiently and don’t warn patients about the possible adverse event called HITT – which can be deadly.

So, let's say you have an individual who undergoes open-heart surgery, is given heparin and has a thrombotic event which can lead to a stroke, heart attack, deep vein thrombosis in the leg or pulmonary embolism. All of these things can be prevented and many courts have found that a person who suffers a HITT event and either dies or is severely injured has a cause of action against the hospital and/or physicians who must compensate them for this event. All of that stems from a conclusion that is fairly consistent with experts in the field who have been certified through both state and federal courts in terms of this testimony – and that is that HITT events are imminently preventable.

More focus on HITT injuries

Heparin has been used since the 1930s and doctors have known about HITT since the 1960's or 1970's. So, this has been around for long, long time. However, Kreis says that HITT injuries have come to light recently because of the Baxter Heparin problem where there was an ingredient that was introduced into the Heparin product that was artificial in nature, emanating from China. He explained:

There were a lot of people who were experiencing adverse reactions to heparin induction. However, what we’re talking about here is entirely different. Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia has been known as a risk sufficient to warn all doctors that they need to take proper precautions.