ANTICOAGULATION IN VENOUS THROMBOSIS

Major studies addressing various aspects of the treatment of deep vein thrombosis are reviewed. It has lately been demonstrated that heparin should be dosed according to body weight and is preferably given as s ubcutaneous injections twice daily. Alternatively, low-molecular-weigh t heparins may be given in a fixed dose once daily, which does not req uire monitoring. Oral anticoagulation should be started concomitantly with heparin and targeted at an international normalized ratio of 2.0- 3.0. This treatment should continue for a longer duration than previou sly accepted, in many cases for 6 months. For patients with contraindi cations to oral anticoagulation, secondary prophylaxis with a low-mole cular-weight heparin is also effective and safe.