Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a prevalent and serious condition, which requires anticoagulation treatment for prolonged time duration. The use of unfractionated heparin administered intravenously or subcutaneously for acute management of VTE has been studied with favourable clinical results. Most physicians use activated partial thromboplastin time to monitor the treatment effect, in an effor...

Revista Española de Cardiologı́a recently published the results of 3 retrospective studies of patients with atrial fibrillation in Spain. The 3 studies evaluate the quality of anticoagulation control over 1 year of primary care therapy with vitamin-K antagonists. In all studies, the majority of patients received acenocoumarol therapy and 40% of patients had inadequate anticoagulation control. In...

BACKGROUND There is a widespread belief among dental practitioners and physicians that oral anticoagulation therapy in which patients receive drugs such as warfarin sodium must be discontinued before dental treatment to prevent serious hemorrhagic complications, especially during and after surgical procedures. OVERVIEW The authors examine the scientific basis for properly managing the dosage ...

The optimal duration of anticoagulation in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) is uncertain. We investigated whether persistently negative D-dimers in patients with vein recanalization or stable thrombotic burden can identify subjects at low recurrence risk. Outpatients with a first VTE (unprovoked or associated with weak risk factors) were eligible after at least 3 months (12 in those w...

Renal failure is a common complication among critically ill patients. Timing, dosage, and mode of renal replacement (RRT) are under debate, but also anticoagulation strategies and vascular access interfere with dialysis success. We present a retrospective, five-year evaluation of patients requiring RRT on a multidisciplinary 50-bed surgical intensive care unit of a university hospital with spec...

pathologic hair loss or even alopecia, was noticed. In the other 4 patients, hair was coming out in handfuls, leaving large areas of mutilating patchy alopecia. Those 4 patients reported that hair loss had begun approximately 6 weeks to 3 months after initiation of hemodialysis. We suspected that repeated anticoagulation with dalteparin, which shares many side effects with heparin,4 was respons...

The rapidity with which heparin anticoagulation is achieved is essential to a positive clinical outcome in patients with deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolus. However, adequate anticoagulation is frequently not achieved, either as a result of dosing regimens that do not take heparin kinetics into account or because of clinicians' wariness of possible hemorrhagic complications associated ...

BACKGROUND Approximately 7000 intracerebral hemorrhages (ICHs) annually in the US are caused by use of antithrombotic therapies. We review the incidence, risk factors, and predictors of ICH in patients receiving long-term anticoagulation or antiplatelet therapy. SUMMARY OF REVIEW ICH rates range from 0.3% to 0.6% per year during oral anticoagulation in recent reports. Major risk factors are a...

Abbreviations: ACUTE 5 Assessment of Cardioversion Using Transesophageal Echocardiography; AF 5 atrial fibrillation; AFASAK 5 Atrial Fibrillation Aspirin and Anticoagulation; AFI 5 Atrial Fibrillation Investigators; BAATAF 5 Boston Area Anticoagulation Trial for Atrial Fibrillation; CAFA 5 Canadian Atrial Fibrillation Anticoagulation; CI 5 confidence interval; DC 5 direct current; EAFT 5 Europe...