Impact of laboratory testing for heparin-induced antibodies: using Bayes' rule to prevent overdiagnosis of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia/Bedeutung von Laboruntersuchungen von Heparin-induzierten Antikörpern: Einsatz des Bayes Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorems zur Prävention der Überdiagnose einer Heparin-induzierten Thrombozytopenie

Abstract Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a clinical-pathological syndrome, i.e., criteria for diagnosis include a compatible clinical picture and laboratory detectability of heparin-dependent, platelet-activating antibodies of IgG class (“HIT antibodies”), and the lack of a more compelling alternative diagnosis. Heparin administration frequently leads to formation of antibodies of one or several immunoglobulin classes (IgG, IgA, IgM) …