Indications for anticoagulant therapy.

Abstract The value of anticoagulant therapy is solidly established in the presence of deepvein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, in the presence of recurrent cerebral ischemic episodes when reparative vascular surgery is not possible, and in postoperative and bedridden patients, at least those with a high risk of pulmonary embolism. There is strongly suggestive evidence for the use of anticoagulants in the presence of recurrent systemic emboli due to mitral valve disease, in patients with valvular prostheses, and in patients immediately following reparative vascular surgery. There is suggestive evidence favoring the use of anticoagulants in progressive strokes in men under 55 for two years after myocardial infarction, and in central retinal vein thrombosis. In all other areas in which they are used, the evidence for the use of anticoagulant drugs remains quite uncertain.