The lack of comprehensive Australian guidelines on venous thromboembolism management is contributing to the undertreatment and overtreatment of patients, a group of doctors say.
A recent survey of haematologists and respiratory physicians found 41% of doctors would treat a first episode of provoked pulmonary embolism with 6-12 months of anticoagulants.
However, existing international guidelines recommend treatment for only three months due to the risk of bleeding, the study published in Internal Medicine said.
Dr Rory Wallace, from the research team based at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, told the limbic there were a number of scenarios where local guidelines would be helpful.
“We felt that information is a bit disparate, for example from the European Society of Cardiology, American College of Chest Physicians or NICE guidelines. A statement of general consensus from Australian institutions might help reduce uncertainty in some scenarios.”
The survey found evidence of undertreatment in the area of thrombolysis for patients with high-risk pulmonary embolism without contraindications to thrombolysis.
Just over two thirds of doctors (68%) said they would recommend thrombolysis – in keeping with major guidelines.