Trial of Different Intensities of Anticoagulation in Patients with Prosthetic Heart Valves

Abstract

We compared the efficacy and complications of anticoagulation with warfarin in 258 patients with prosthetic heart valves treated with regimens of "moderate intensity" (prothrombin-time ratio, 1.5; international normalized ratio, 2.65) or "high intensity" (prothrombin-time ratio, 2.5; international normalized ratio, 9) in a prospective, randomized study. The two patient groups were followed up for 421 patient-years and 436 patient-years, respectively. Eleven patients were lost to follow-up.