Register Login

New USP Heparin Dosage Standards October 8

The FDA has issued a news release warning that beginning October 8, heparin will be shipped at new, lower dosages. Labs will have to confirm their therapeutic ranges relative to the new dosages. Geo.

Comments (5)
Posts
GeorgeFritsma
Oct 10, 2009 3:34am

Hi, Lucia,
As I mentioned to Al Nice, we probably won’t ne

Hi, Lucia,
As I mentioned to Al Nice, we probably won’t need to develop new therapeutic ranges in response to the new lower-dose heparin packaging, but may anticipate questions as our surgeons start using it, which should start happening today. However, it may be necessary to collect fresh specimens from patients on the new heparin to prepare aliquots for the next time you have to establish a therapeutic range.

GeorgeFritsma
Oct 10, 2009 3:27am

More on our unfractionated heparin discussion from Col More:
More on our unfractionated heparin discussion from Col More:
Hi! I got an email about the new FDA dosage via military lab grapevine and I’m wondering what we should expect to see when we run heparin levels on people who are on this stuff. I’d like to advise my other PACAF labs on what to do with this information. I think they need to get with their pharmacy to see if they have heparin with the new USP? If it’s less potent, they’ll have to give the patient more to achieve therapeutic range. Most labs are still monitoring with PTT and it’s really difficult to get enough patient samples to run the studies. Have you seen any info on this?
LUCIA E. MORE, Lt Col, USAF, BSC
Laboratory Flight Commander

GeorgeFritsma
Oct 8, 2009 6:13pm

I’m pretty sure Joe is right, Al. We should be able to use o
I’m pretty sure Joe is right, Al. We should be able to use our existing therapeutic range. However, I suspect the number of orders is rising as our surgeons grapple with the new dosage requirements. Personally, I’d like to see us use the chromogenic anti-Xa heparin assay routinely in place of PTT.

JoeLamb
Oct 5, 2009 10:18am

George, please explain confirming my therapeutic ranges. Wo
George, please explain confirming my therapeutic ranges. Wouldn’t the therapeutic levels be the same even with lower dosages?

Anice
Oct 5, 2009 5:35am

Hello George,
Is there a way to confirm the therapeutic ran

Hello George,
Is there a way to confirm the therapeutic ranges prior to the new heparin being used on patients? We normally run the anti-Xa assay on patients who are already on heparin in order to confirm the PTT reference range.
Thanks,
Al

Leave a Reply