Prevent DVT’s

The last time I was on a plane last year I read lots of practical tips to prevent leg clots or DVT’s.  The standard advice is: do not sit still for too long.  Wiggle your legs and stand up now and then.  Not very high tech advice, but it is practical and certainly works for many people.

New advances for a difficult problem are always appealing. In earlier blogs I’ve mentioned the Jupitor trial.  This trial shows that Crestor could prevent heart attacks in people with normal cholesterol numbers and an elevated hs-CRP test.  Last month more findings were published from this trial.  Further study of the data has produced a surprise.  Venous clots, also called DVT’s or deep venous thrombosis were much lower in people that took Crestor.  Compared to people that didn’t take Crestor, the reduction was 43%.  It is truly novel to think about preventing a DVT with a medicine that doesn’t increase a person’s risk of bleeding.   When you think about it, a heart attack it is really an arterial clot, the vessels leading away from the heart.  A DVT is a clot in a vessel leading to the heart.  Typically doctors treat both of these kinds of clots with blood thinners.  There is lots of data to support preventing clots with statin drugs. This is some of the first evidence that shows DVT’s can be prevented with statin drugs.

A Randomized Trial of Rosuvastatin in the Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism.  NEJM. Volume 360:1851-1861. Number 18.