Doctors homing in on blood clot issues amid Johnson & Johnson vaccine review Share Updated: 9:53 PM EDT Apr 16, 2021 By Maggie Fox Matt Rourke/AP Doctors say they are homing in on the cause of blood clots that may be linked with certain coronavirus vaccines, and their findings have important implications for how to treat the condition. SOURCE: Matt Rourke/AP Share Updated: 9:53 PM EDT Apr 16, 2021 By Maggie Fox Doctors say they are homing in on the cause of blood clots that may be linked with certain coronavirus vaccines, and said their findings have important implications for how to treat the condition, regardless of whether vaccines cause it.Even though the link is not firm yet, they re calling the condition vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia or VITT. It s characterized by unusual blood clotting combined with a low number of blood-clotting cells called platelets. Patients suff
Doctors hone in on cause of blood clots potentially linked with Covid-19 vaccines
Doctors say they are honing in on the cause of blood clots that may be linked with certain coronavirus vaccines, and add their findings have important implications for how to treat the condition, regardless of whether vaccines cause it.
Even though the link is not firm yet, they’re calling the condition vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia or VITT. It’s characterized by unusual blood clotting combined with a low number of blood-clotting cells called platelets. Patients suffer from dangerous clots and, sometimes, hemorrhaging at the same time.
CNN
Apr 17, 2021 4:20 PM ET
A team led by Dr. Marie Scully, a hematologist at University College London Hospitals, studied 22 patients who developed the syndrome after receiving AstraZeneca s vaccine, and found they had an unusual antibody response. These so-called anti-PF4 antibodies had only been seen before as a rare reaction to the use of the common blood thinner heparin.
The findings support a theory that an immune reaction might underlie the rare blood clots, but the findings don t yet explain it, Scully and colleagues reported in the New England Journal of Medicine Friday. What may be going on is a reaction by the immune system with platelets to cause uncontrolled clotting.
Doctors say they are honing in on the cause of blood clots that may be linked with certain coronavirus vaccines, and add their findings have important implications for how to treat the condition, regardless of whether vaccines cause it. Even though the link is not firm yet, they re calling the condition vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia or VITT. It s characterized by unusual blood clotting combined with a low number of blood-clotting cells called platelets. Patients suffer from dangerous clots and, sometimes, hemorrhaging at the same time. It s been linked most firmly with the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, which is in wide use in Europe and the U.K.