Monash Haematology presents at the 2019 ISTH meeting

Left to right: Dr Min Sheng Lim, A/Prof
Sanjeev Chunilal, Dr Susan Brown and
Dr Ashwini Bennett

The International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Scientific Meeting (ISTH) scientific meeting is the largest and most prestigious meeting in the field of thrombosis and haemostasis. This year's event was held in Melbourne, with over 5000 delegates attending. Staff from Monash Haematology, in association with colleagues in pharmacy and radiology, presented a total of four oral communications and six posters.

Oral communications presented included results of a landmark Australasian clinical trial conducted by Dr Eileen Merriman (a previous research fellow) examining the use of 14 days of anticoagulation in the management of distal deep venous thrombosis. Dr Ming Sheng Lim in conjunction with radiology colleagues showed that compared to warfarin, rivaroxaban appears associated with greater rates of resolution of pulmonary emboli.

Dr Ashwini Bennett in collaboration with pharmacists Philomena Banahene, Amanda Tey and Ron Cheah presented data on the performance of standard dose enoxaparin in preventing thrombosis in obese and non-obese pregnant women. Dr Charithani Keragala, haematologist and PhD student at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, presented the role of the complement 5a receptor in altering the permeability of the blood brain barrier.

Of the six poster presentations, Dr Patrick Leung observed in a retrospective study that the D-dimer assay may retain its accuracy for detection of acute venous thromboembolism even in patients concurrently receiving treatment with the direct oral anticoagulants. Dr Indu Raman showed that a clinical assessment, using the PESI score, was more predictive of 30-day mortality post-PE than the presence of right ventricular strain on CT. Dr Agnes Yuen’s work showed the significant rates of venous thromboembolism associated with central nervous system large cell lymphoma.

The above presentations are the culmination of months of hard work and inter-departmental collaboration, and we congratulate all these researchers on their fantastic achievements.

Story credit: A/Prof Sanjeev Chunilal