Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism in Unstable Angina Pectoris

Abstract

To the Editor: Most trials of prophylactic antithrombotic agents administered to prevent venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism have studied surgical patients. Data on patients not undergoing surgery are much less plentiful, although many patients on medical wards are at high risk for venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism — e.g., those with stroke (prevalence of venous thrombosis, 53 per cent¹) and those with myocardial infarction (17 to 38 per cent^{2 3 4 5}). In patients with infarction, five of the six studies to date have reported that low-dose heparin reduced the frequency of venous thrombosis.^{5 6 7 8 9 10} We compared the efficacy of low-dos subcutaneous . . .