Risk of Venous Thromboembolism in Patients Infected with HIV: A Cohort Study.

Introduction Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients are at risk of developing thrombosis than general population. There are several intersecting mechanisms associated with HIV infection and antiviral therapy that are emerging, which may lead to vasculopathy and hypercoagulability in these patients. Methods We analyzed the HIV patients who followed up with our Vascular Medicine outpatient clinic with venous thromboembolism (VTE) over the past 3 years and followed them prospectively. The patients included were those who had minimum, regular follow-up of 3 months, with a Doppler scan in the beginning and last follow-up. Patients were analyzed for age, gender, race, site of thrombosis, coagulation factors, lipid panel, type of antiretroviral treatment, past or present history of infections or malignancy, CD4 absolute and helper cell counts at the beginning of thrombosis, response to treatment and outcome. Patients with HIV with arterial thrombosis were excluded. Results A total of eight patients were analyzed. The mean age was 49.87 years (range, 38-58 years). All were male patients with six patients having lower limb thrombosis, one patient with upper limb thrombosis related to peripheral inserted central catheter (PICC), and one patient had pulmonary embolism with no deep vein thrombosis. Most common venous thrombosis was popliteal vein thrombosis, followed by common femoral, superficial femoral and external iliac thrombosis. Two patients had deficiency of protein S, two had high homocysteine levels, one had deficiency of antithrombin 3, and one had increase in anticardiolipin Immunoglobulin antibody. All patients were taking nucleoside and nonnucleoside inhibitors but only two patients were taking protease inhibitors. There was history of lymphoma in one and nonsmall cell lung carcinoma in one patient. Three patients had past history of tuberculosis and one of these patients also had pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. The mean absolute CD4 counts were 383.25 cells/UL (range, 103-908 cells/UL) and helper CD4 counts were 22.5 cells/UL (range, 12-45 cells/UL). All were anticoagulated with warfarin or enoxaparin. There was complete resolution of deep vein thrombosis in two patients (one with PICC line thrombosis in 3 months and other with popliteal vein thrombosis in 1 year). There was extension of clot in one patient and no resolution in others. Seven patients are still alive and on regular follow-up. Conclusion Thrombosis in HIV patients is seen more commonly in middle aged, community ambulant male patients. Left lower limb involvement with involvement of popliteal vein is most common. Deficiency of protein S and hyperhomocystenaemia were noted in these patients. Most of these patients did not respond to therapeutic anticoagulation, but the extension of the thrombosis was prevented in majority of cases.

A Case Series of HIV-Seropositive Patients and Hypercoagulable State-Is It Difficult to Treat Even with Therapeutic Anticoagulation?

Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are at risk of developing thrombosis and are 8 to 10 times more likely to develop thrombosis than the general population. Moreover, if they have hypercoagulable state they can have severe thrombosis and life-threatening thrombotic events. The purpose of this retrospective study is to analyze hypercoagulable state in HIV-seropositive patients who have been diagnosed with venous thromboembolism (VTE). This study is a subgroup study of a larger cohort group of HIV-seropositive patients with VTE followed up with our vascular medicine outpatient clinic. The patients included for this study were HIV-seropositive patients with hypercoagulable state, analyzed over the past 3 years, and followed prospectively. HIV-seropositive patients with arterial thrombosis were excluded. These patients had minimum, regular follow-up of 3 months, with a Doppler scan in the beginning and last follow-up. All the patients were analyzed for hypercoagulable state and the patients selected in this study were those who were tested positive for hypercoagulable state. All patients were analyzed for age, gender, race, site of thrombosis, coagulation factors, lipid panel, type of antiretroviral treatment, past or present history of infections or malignancy, CD4 absolute and helper cell counts at the beginning of thrombosis, and response to treatment and outcome. Patients with HIV with arterial thrombosis were excluded. The study was approved by the ethics committee. Five patients were included in this study. The mean age was 47.8 years (range 38 to 58 years). All were male patients with lower limb thrombosis. Most common venous thrombosis was popliteal vein thrombosis, followed by common femoral, superficial femoral, and external iliac thrombosis. Two patients had deficiency of protein S, two had high homocysteine levels, one had deficiency of antithrombin 3, and one had increase in anticardiolipin immunoglobulin G antibody. All the patients were taking nucleoside and nonnucleoside inhibitors but only one patient was taking protease inhibitors. There was no history of malignancy but two patients had past history of tuberculosis. The mean absolute CD4 counts were 244 cells/UL (range 103 to 392 cells/UL) and helper CD4 counts were 19.6 cells/UL (range 15 to 30 cells/UL). All were anticoagulated with warfarin or enoxaparin. There was complete resolution of deep vein thrombosis only in one patient on long-term anticoagulation but there was no resolution of thrombosis in the other four patients despite of therapeutic anticoagulation for more than 6 months. All the patients are alive and on regular follow-up. Thrombosis in HIV patients is seen more commonly in middle aged, community ambulant male patients. The most common hypercoagulable state was noted as deficiency of protein S and hyperhomocysteinemia. Eighty percent of the patients did not respond to therapeutic anticoagulation.

Bilateral massive pulmonary thromboembolism in a young patient treated with supportive measures and an inferior vena cava filter with excellent outcome.

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common and often fatal disease with a mortality rate of more than 30% in untreated patients. There is a twofold increase in mortality in patients with massive PEs who do not receive treatment. Recurrent embolism is the most common cause of death. A 48-year-old woman presented to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, on December 16, 2009, with a massive pulmonary thromboembolism. She was admitted to the intensive care unit and treated with supportive measures, ventilatory support, antibiotics and ionotropes. The patient was diagnosed with urosepsis with septicemic shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation, acute renal failure, high anion gap metabolic acidosis, iron-deficiency anemia secondary to menorrhagia, and a uterine mass with high cancer antigen 125, although malignancy was ruled out. Anticoagulation or thrombolysis could not be provided in view of coagulopathy. The patient subsequently underwent inferior vena cava filter insertion on December 31, 2009. The patient showed clinical improvement over the next two weeks with antibiotics and supportive measures. If there is a contraindication to anticoagulation or thrombolysis, massive pulmonary thromboembolism should be treated aggressively with supportive measures. Inferior vena cava filter insertion should be instituted early to prevent recurrent PE, which can be fatal. It may take weeks before the patient displays clinical improvement.