Group Recommends Against Routine Heparin Use To Prevent VTE In Hospital.

MedPage Today  (11/2, Groch) reports, "New guidelines from the American College of Physicians recommend against the routine use of heparin to prevent venous thromboembolism (VTE) in hospitalized patients, calling instead for physicians to first weigh the risk of bleeding." Researchers "found that heparin prophylaxis in nonsurgical patients did not reduce total mortality, may have contributed to fewer pulmonary embolisms (PE), and increased bleeding events." For "those with stroke, prophylaxis heparin had no effect on outcomes except for an increase in bleeding events, researchers reported  in the Nov. 1 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine."