Heparin therapy in Russell's viper bite victims with impending dic (a controlled trial).

Twenty-eight patients with coagulable blood and serum FDP levels (more than 80 μg/ml) were included in the study. They were randomised to receive low-dose heparin in an initial dose of 50 units/kg body weight intravenously immediately after antivenom followed by a continuous infusion of 10 units/kg/hr in isotonic saline for 24 hours, or antivenom alone. No features of systemic envenoming developed in any patient after treatment, but one patient in each group developed microscopic haematuria