BACKGROUND In patients with heart failure, rates of clinically apparent stroke range from 1.3% to 3.5% per year. Little is known about the incidence and risk factors in the absence of atrial fibrillation. In the Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial (SCD-HeFT), 2521 patients with moderate heart failure were randomized to receive amiodarone, implanted cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), or...

BACKGROUND Whether to continue oral anticoagulant therapy beyond 6 months after an "unprovoked" venous thromboembolism is controversial. We sought to determine clinical predictors to identify patients who are at low risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism who could safely discontinue oral anticoagulants. METHODS In a multicentre prospective cohort study, 646 participants with a first, unprov...

OBJECTIVE The risk of venous thromboembolism has been reported to increase when receiving bevacizumab. Many cancer patients are reported to have elevated D-dimer levels. It is not clear what D-dimer level might indicate an increased risk of venous thromboembolism in the colorectal cancer patients treated with bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy. METHODS The D-dimer levels and any event concur...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES A high incidence of atherosclerotic lesions and cardiovascular events has been reported in patients with spontaneous venous thromboembolism. Endothelial dysfunction is an early marker of atherosclerosis and has predictive value for ischemic events. We have evaluated endothelial function in patients with a history of spontaneous venous thromboembolism. DESIGN AND METH...

BACKGROUND ABO blood type locus has been reported to be an important genetic determinant of venous and arterial thrombosis in genome-wide association studies. We tested the hypothesis that ABO blood type alone and in combination with mutations in factor V Leiden R506Q and prothrombin G20210A is associated with the risk of venous thromboembolism and myocardial infarction in the general populatio...

Venous aneurysms are uncommon in the lower limb and are more frequently found in the neck and thoracic and visceral veins. However, they have been reported to cause thrombosis, pulmonary thromboembolism, and other related complications. Popliteal venous aneurysms are often undetected because they are usually asymptomatic, but they may cause pulmonary thromboembolic events. We experienced a case...

Pregnancy and delivery were analyzed in 23 women one to ten years after undergoing prosthetic heart valve replacement. The main points of management during pregnancy and delivery were cardiac management and management against thromboembolism. The functional status of the pregnant patients was grade I of the New York Heart Association criteria in eight, grade II in 13 and grade III and higher in...

Cerebral and retinal ischemic events have been described in mitral valve prolapse. To determine whether platelets play a part in the pathogenesis of thromboembolism we studied 29 patients with mitral valve prolapse, including nine (group I) with thromboembolism (cerebral, retinal and deep venous), eight (group II) with transient visual obscurations and 12 (group III) with neither thromboembolis...

In the current treatment of venous thromboembolism most patients are treated with vitamin K antagonists (VKA). VKA have many disadvantages including slow onset of action, multiple food and drug interactions and a large inter-individual variability in their efficacy. Recently several alternative oral anticoagulants have been developed, which have several advantages in comparison to VKA. So far t...

The question ‘What is the best prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism in the critically ill?’ is clinically relevant. The answer is formulated based upon the best available evidence with a focus on pharmacological prophylaxis and symptomatic venous thromboembolism. Four randomized controlled clinical trials with a grade I level of evidence are discussed in detail. Unfractionated heparin is the ...