Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia in Critically Ill Patients

Many critically ill patients receive heparin, either before intensive care unit (ICU) admission (e.g., postcardiac surgery), for prophylaxis/treatment of thrombosis, for hemodialysis/filtration, or even incidentally (e.g., flushing of intravascular catheters), and are therefore at risk for developing immune heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), a prothrombotic drug reaction caused by platelet-activating antiplatelet factor 4 (PF4)/heparin …