Faust AC, et al. – Physicians investigated the efficacy of early vs. delayed initiation of pharmacological venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis after an intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). In ICH patients, initiation of early pharmacological prophylaxis did not appear to increase the risk of rebleeding nor decrease the risk of VTE. There was a longer median time from admission to the first dose of pharmacological prophylaxis among those patients who did develop VTE during hospitalization.

• The physicians enrolled patients admitted for a ICH who received pharmacological VTE prophylaxis during their first 30 hospital days.

• Among the 793 patients evaluated, the physicians included 400 patients [142 (35.5%) early].
• For early vs. late, rebleeding event rates were similar [8 (5.6%) vs. 13 (5.0%), P=0.80] and rates of hospital-acquired VTEs were not statistically different [1 (0.7%) vs. 8 (3.1%), P=0.17].
• In patients who experienced rebleeding vs. those that did not, the median time from admission to the first dose of pharmacological prophylaxis was similar [74 h (range, 38 to 110.5 h) vs. 63 h (range, 45 to 90.5 h), P=0.69].
• They found a longer median time from admission to the first dose of pharmacological prophylaxis in patients who developed a VTE during the initial hospitalization vs. those who did not [108 h (range, 73.3 to 187 h) vs. 63 h (range, 44.5 to 90 h), P=0.005].