Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia: A Clinicopathologic Syndrome

Introduction The American vascular surgeons, Weismann and Tobin in 19581 and Roberts and colleagues in 1964,2 were the first to describe unusual thrombi affecting the lower limb arteries in some patients treated with heparin for 7 to 14 days. It was not until the mid-1970s however that Silver and colleagues3,4 identified the key elements of the heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) syndrome, namely thrombocytopenia associated …