Venous tromboembolic complications in stroke

Abstract

This work was warranted by the need to improve results in the treatment of stroke. The aim of this study was to identify criteria for predicting the risk of venous thrombosis and to elucidate the pathogenesis of thromboembolic complications in patients with acute stroke. Materials and methods. This prospective study included 145 patients (104 patients with ischemic stroke and 41 patients (28.3%) with hemorrhagic stroke). All patients were hospitalized to the neuroresuscitation unit within 3.5 to 24 hours of the disease onset at different stages of consciousness impairment. The patients received anticoagulant therapy (ACT) according to current healthcare standards. Standard clinical diagnostic and laboratory monitoring was supplemented with a Thrombodynamics test. Results. Risk factors for venous thromboembolic events (VTE) were observed in 95% of patients. Pulmonary embolism developed in 24% of cases mostly during weeks 2—3, generally at 6 days of ACT withdrawal. Hemostatic changes and disbalance progressed after the ACT withdrawal. Standard methods of studying hemostasis were shown to be less
informative in detecting VTE and evaluating ACT efficacy than the thermodynamics method. The probability of VTE was directly proportional to the velocity of hypercoagulation transformation into hypocoagulation. In this process, the background hypocoagulation was not correlated with the development of VTE. Analysis of correlations of hemostasis changes with changes in clinical-laboratory markers identified relationships of changes in coagulation hemostasis with different standard ACT programs. VTE, pulmonary embolism, and hemorrhagic complications developed in association with administration of comparable ACT programs to patients with severe stroke.