The Epidemiology of Thrombosis With Thrombocytopenia Syndrome: Analogies With Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia
Authors: Theodore E. Warkentin, Menaka Pai
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2022)

EditorialsApril 2022The Epidemiology of Thrombosis With Thrombocytopenia Syndrome: Analogies With Heparin-Induced ThrombocytopeniaFREETheodore E. Warkentin, MD, BSc(Med) and Menaka Pai, MDTheodore E. Warkentin, MD, BSc(Med)Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and Menaka Pai, MDMichael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, CanadaAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M22-0118 SectionsAboutVisual AbstractPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail In their article, See and colleagues report an epidemiologic study of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), a rare complication associated with receipt of the adenoviral-vectored COVID-19 vaccines ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Oxford/AstraZeneca) and Ad26.COV2.S (Janssen/Johnson & Johnson) (1). The study describes the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of TTS after COVID-19 vaccination on the basis of data obtained from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, a U.S. passive surveillance (spontaneous reporting) system, with potential cases reviewed by specialists in infectious diseases, neurology, and hematology. Reporting rates were calculated as confirmed cases per million vaccine doses administered.Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome has also been called vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) (2, 3), a name analogous to heparin-induced (immune) thrombocytopenia (HIT)—sometimes also called heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (4). There are several parallels between TTS, VITT, and HIT, including the clinical picture (thrombocytopenia, thrombosis, and disseminated intravascular coagulation) and pathophysiology (platelet-activating antibodies directed against the highly cationic protein platelet factor 4 [PF4]).Although the terms TTS and VITT are often used synonymously, an evolving nuance is that TTS is a more generic, higher order term that refers to persons who develop the dyad of thrombocytopenia and thrombosis after vaccination, regardless of the specific underlying driver. Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome includes cases of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, cancer-associated thrombosis with disseminated intravascular coagulation, and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome that are incidentally associated with vaccination, whereas VITT more specifically denotes that an anti-PF4 pathogenesis has been implicated through laboratory studies. Here we discuss how the clinical features of TTS strongly mimic "spontaneous HIT"—defined as a HIT-mimicking anti-PF4 disorder not triggered by preceding heparin exposure (5)—and how the epidemiology of TTS has striking parallels with that of classic (that is, heparin-induced) HIT.In the United States, 3 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered: the adenoviral-vectored vaccine Ad26.COV2.S and 2 messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer–BioNTech). The authors identified 57 confirmed cases of TTS, with 54 occurring after Ad26.COV2.S vaccination and only 3 after mRNA-based vaccines (1). These events corresponded to TTS reporting rates of 3.83 and 0.00855 per million, respectively—a 450-fold difference in frequency between TTS rates seen with the adenoviral-vectored vaccine versus the mRNA-based vaccines. The authors posited that the extremely low rate of TTS after administration of an mRNA-based vaccine could represent a "background rate of spontaneous HIT." Although the United States did not approve or distribute the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine initially implicated in Europe as causing VITT, the authors note that the reported frequencies of TTS (or VITT) with that vaccine range from 13 to 39 cases per million doses, which represents an approximate 3- to 10-fold higher risk for TTS after the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine versus the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine. Thus, there seems to be a hierarchy in the risk for triggering TTS (or VITT), as follows: ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 > Ad26.COV2.S >> mRNA-based vaccine.This parallels a similar hierarchy of risk for 3 polyanionic anticoagulants triggering the classic anti-PF4 disorder HIT (unfractionated heparin > low-molecular-weight heparin >> fondaparinux) (5, 6). The risk difference between unfractionated and low-molecular-weight heparin has been estimated to also be approximately 10-fold (6).See and colleagues allude to the difficulty in discerning true VITT caused by mRNA vaccines from the background rate of spontaneous HIT. Similarly, most cases of HIT after fondaparinux have been reported in the setting of thromboprophylaxis after knee arthroplasty (7). This is precisely the setting in which most cases of so-called spontaneous HIT have been reported (5). Thus, it is challenging to differentiate whether fondaparinux or knee arthroplasty explains fondaparinux-associated HIT after orthopedic surgery.Of the 57 cases of TTS described by See and colleagues, 47 had testing by anti-PF4 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, with 44 (94%) having positive results. Positive test results were generally strongly positive, with a median enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay optical density of 2.35 units (1). Thus, their study confirms the strong association between TTS and the presence of anti-PF4 antibodies, corroborating the evolving concept that most patients with TTS do indeed have the more specific anti-PF4 disorder called VITT (8). Moreover, the clinical picture of TTS reported by See and colleagues matches that reported for patients with VITT triggered by ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination (2, 3). In particular, they noted generally moderate-to-severe thrombocytopenia (median platelet count nadir, 33 × 109 cells/L); disseminated intravascular coagulation (median D-dimer peak, >20 000 μg/L fibrinogen equivalent unit; median fibrinogen nadir level, 1.66 g/L); and a high proportion of patients with cerebral venous (sinus) thrombosis (CVT) (approximately 55%), pulmonary embolism (approximately 40%), extremity deep venous thrombosis (approximately 40%), and abdominal vein thrombosis (approximately 30%). Approximately one sixth of the patients with TTS had arterial thrombosis.The high frequency of CVT complicating TTS is striking, confirming findings seen with VITT after ChAdOx1 CoV-19 vaccination. It also parallels observations in "medical" (nonorthopedic surgery) spontaneous HIT reported in the literature, most episodes of which occurred after an infection. A review of 10 cases of spontaneous HIT also noted a high frequency of CVT (40%), with an overall stroke frequency (venous or arterial) of 60% (5). This propensity for venous and arterial stroke in both VITT and spontaneous HIT is in contrast to the much lower frequencies of CVT and arterial stroke in typical HIT (<10% of patients) (3). Thus, it seems that the clinical picture of TTS more closely resembles that of spontaneous HIT rather than classic HIT and that TTS and HIT are not identical anti-PF4 disorders. Differences in clinical picture could reflect pathophysiologic consequences of differences in the antigen targeting on PF4. Indeed, distinct antigen target regions on PF4 have been identified when comparing reactivity profiles of VITT versus HIT antibodies (9). (Platelet factor 4 antigen target sites in cases of spontaneous HIT remain to be defined.)See and colleagues persuasively show that there are real differences in the frequency of TTS (or VITT) between the Ad26.COV2.S and mRNA vaccines, thus supporting the decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to favor the mRNA-based vaccines in the ongoing efforts to immunize the U.S. population against COVID-19 (10). Their data also help to illuminate further the evolving picture of the clinical spectrum and epidemiology of anti-PF4 disorders.References1. See I, Lale A, Marquez P, et al. Case series of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome after COVID-19 vaccination—United States, December 2020 to August 2021. Ann Intern Med. 2022;175:513-522. doi:10.7326/M21-4502 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Greinacher A, Thiele T, Warkentin TE, et al. Thrombotic thrombocytopenia after ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccination. N Engl J Med. 2021;384:2092-2101. [PMID: 33835769] doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2104840 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Pavord S, Scully M, Hunt BJ, et al. Clinical features of vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis. N Engl J Med. 2021;385:1680-1689. [PMID: 34379914] doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2109908 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Warkentin TE, Greinacher A, eds. Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia. 5th ed. CRC Pr; 2013. Google Scholar5. Warkentin TE, Greinacher A. Spontaneous HIT syndrome: knee replacement, infection, and parallels with vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia. Thromb Res. 2021;204:40-51. [PMID: 34144250] doi:10.1016/j.thromres.2021.05.018 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. Martel N, Lee J, Wells PS. Risk for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia with unfractionated and low-molecular-weight heparin thromboprophylaxis: a meta-analysis. Blood. 2005;106:2710-5. [PMID: 15985543] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar7. Warkentin TE. Fondaparinux: does it cause HIT? Can it treat HIT. Expert Rev Hematol. 2010;3:567-81. [PMID: 21083474] doi:10.1586/ehm.10.54 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar8. Makris M, Pavord S. Most cases of thrombosis and thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) post ChAdOx-1 nCov-19 are vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT). Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2022;12:100274. [PMID: 34901913] doi:10.1016/j.lanepe.2021.100274 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar9. Huynh A, Kelton JG, Arnold DM, et al. Antibody epitopes in vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopaenia. Nature. 2021;596:565-569. [PMID: 34233346] doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03744-4 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC endorses ACIP's updated COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Accessed at cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1216-covid-19-vaccines.html on 6 January 2022. Google Scholar Comments0 CommentsSign In to Submit A Comment Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, CanadaDisclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M22-0118.Corresponding Author: Theodore (Ted) E. Warkentin, MD, BSc(Med), Room 1-270B, Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program, Hamilton Health Sciences, 237 Barton Street East, Hamilton, ON L8L 2X2 Canada; e-mail, [email protected]ca.This article was published at Annals.org on 18 January 2022. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoCase Series of Thrombosis With Thrombocytopenia Syndrome After COVID-19 Vaccination—United States, December 2020 to August 2021 Isaac See , Allison Lale , Paige Marquez , Michael B. Streiff , Allison P. Wheeler , Naomi K. Tepper , Emily Jane Woo , Karen R. Broder , Kathryn M. Edwards , Ruth Gallego , Andrew I. Geller , Kelly A. Jackson , Shashi Sharma , Kawsar R. Talaat , Emmanuel B. Walter , Imo J. Akpan , Thomas L. Ortel , Victor C. Urrutia , Shannon C. Walker , Jennifer C. Yui , Tom T. Shimabukuro , Adamma Mba-Jonas , John R. Su , and David K. Shay Metrics Cited byLaboratory testing for VITT antibodiesPlatelet-activating anti-PF4 disorders: An overview April 2022Volume 175, Issue 4Page: 604-605KeywordsCOVID-19Infectious disease epidemiologyStrokeThrombosisVaccines ePublished: 18 January 2022 Issue Published: April 2022 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2022 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...