Use of heparin in DIC in 2017

Do you use heparin in disseminated intravascular coagulation?

Mark Crowther: The short answer to that question is no.

The long answer to that question is: There has been a lot of interest in research in this over the years, but never large, adequately-powered studies. I understand that there is a study going on in Belgium or in the Netherlands looking at this question. I am not sure why studies have not been done because it is a relatively straightforward design to do.

The [short] answer is: We do not use it. If the person had evidence of thrombosis, we would obviously use it, but in the absence of thrombosis we do not routinely use it, although I do know that in many centers it is used.