Heparin Allergy

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Twelve million Americans receive the anti-blood clotting drug heparin every year. Clotting is a risk after surgery but it could be an allergic reaction. About 120,000 patients have an allergy to heparin and neither they nor their doctor knows. That lack of awareness could be disastrous.

After surgery, Sylvia Bender was given a common drug to prevent blood clotting. Years later, she knew something was wrong. She says, "Every time I would take a breath, it would just feel like a knife was stabbing right, just right in my ribs."

Bender developed blood clots in her lungs -- a result of an allergy to the drug heparin. "The first time I went to the emergency room, I told them, I said, 'I'm 10 days post-op and I think I have a blood clot,' and they said 'Oh, no. It's cardiac or it's pleurisy.'"

What her doctors didn't know is what researcher John Francis, Ph.D., is trying to get more people to recognize.

"Fifty percent of patients that undergo open-heart surgery will develop an antibody to the heparin drug," Francis, of Florida Hospital Cancer Institute in Orlando, tells Ivanhoe.

Those patients may later develop clots and be given heparin again. "In other words, in a patient that is being given heparin to prevent blood clotting, the very drug which is supposed to help that, in fact, makes it worse," says Francis.

He says it's important that doctors measure blood platelet counts before heparin treatment and monitor them regularly after. Pain at the site of injection, fever, sweating and shortness of breath are other signals of allergy.

Bender will soon be having knee surgery. She knows to mention her allergy to her doctor. "When I found out I, was allergic to it, it was like, well, 'Thank you Lord that you told me this’ and now I will make sure that they don't give me any heparin."

The reaction may cause massive clotting if untreated. This can ultimately lead to amputation or death. Other situations where doctors may use heparin include vascular and orthopedic surgery, and other cardiac procedures. Some cancer patients and patients on dialysis receive heparin also.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Heather Allebaugh
Media Relations
Florida Hospital
616 E. Rollins Street, Suite 103
Orlando, FL 32803
(407) 303-1917
heather.allebaugh@flhosp.org
http://www.floridahospital.com